


Gifted: See No Evil

by Dreamshaper



Series: Gifted [2]
Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: And angst, Established Relationship, F/F, Holtzbert - Freeform, also this has quite a bit more violence than the first story, and fluff, because i'm me, more GB meets X-Men because I'm me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-17 07:31:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10589328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamshaper/pseuds/Dreamshaper
Summary: After a group of five has been killed, the Ghostbusters set out to catch the murderous ghost responsible for the deaths - but what starts a routine job soon takes a much darker turn, and they might end up losing one of them forever.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So! As promised, here's the sequel to Gifted, because I had so much fun writing Mutant Ghostbusters, so of course I had to do another one. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it :D

_Blinded to see_   
_The cruelty of the beast_   
_It is the darker side of me_   
_Forgive me my sins_

**Within Temptation - The Truth Beneath The Rose**

 

She cried as she ran, looking around frantically, as if that could save her; her crying turned into screams when she reached the ground floor and slipped in a puddle of blood and fell and came face to face with one of her friends, dead glassy eyes staring back at her, blood still pumping from the brutally slashed throat.

_Still pumping, so it hasn’t happen too long ago, and the blood is still warm, too, and oh my God he’s going to get me as well_

Sobbing, she struggled back to her feet, hearing _him_ breathe somewhere behind herself; she screamed as she burst out through the front door, screamed for help, someone, _anyone_ , and then he pushed her and she fell, scrambling to turn on her back, raising her arms as she screamed in helpless terror.

“No, please, no! Please I’ll do anything please don’t please don’t _please_ …”

She pleaded, and she begged, she didn’t even know if he could hear her, but she did, she did until her voice was gone, and he never said a word.

* * *

Erin took deep and steady breaths as she worked to keep her focus up, small pearls of sweat forming on her brow and trickling down to her cheeks; her task was getting more and more difficult, but she wasn’t willing to give up, she was making good progress and she knew she had to keep at it to get better.

The apple floating in the air in front of her trembled a bit as her struggle to hold it there simply with the power of her mind, something she was getting better at, but a power which still was far from fully developed.

Her hand started to tremble a bit as it got more and more exhausting… and just when she thought that she had to stop, or she’d give herself a massive migraine, Holtzmann walked by and casually sliced the apple in four pieces, said pieces making soft splattering noises when they fell on the desk.

“Holtzmann!” Erin said, letting her hand drop to her side and giving the blonde an incredulous look, “why did you do that?”

“Couldn’t resist”, Holtzmann gave back a bit sheepishly, scratching the back of her head with one hand while the sharp blades slid back into her other forearm, “sorry? Forgive me?”

She gave Erin the best puppy dog look she could manage, and after a second, the physicist melted; smiling, she shook her head and stepped around her desk to embrace the other woman, her smile only widening when Holtzmann immediately returned the hug, putting her arms loosely around the redhead’s waist.

“You know I can never stay mad at you”, Erin told her, smiling at her; Holtzmann beamed back at her, then they shared a brief kiss before the engineer picked up one of the apple slices and popped it into her mouth.

“Hm, crunchy”, she said once she had chewed and swallowed, “and look, I made one slice for each of us! …well, except for Kevin, but I’m not sure he likes apple, anyway.”

“I think he’d eat anything you put in front of him”, Erin gave back with a small giggle, earning a smirk and nod from her girlfriend; they shared another brief kiss, then Erin picked up one of the slices and ate it, swallowing just when Abby and Patty came back from their brief trip out to get their lunch.

“Ooh, apple”, Patty said, eyes lighting up, “yum. Wait… Holtzy, did you cut that with your claws?!”

“Maybe?” Holtzmann replied innocently, earning an eye roll from the taller woman, followed by a strict look.

“How many times have I told you”, the historian then scolded, Erin hiding a smile behind her hand at her exasperated tone while Holtzmann just looked bashful, “don’t cut food with those! That’s unsanitary.”

“No it’s not”, Holtzmann argued back at once, a talk they had had roughly a hundred times in the two months since the Ghostbusters had moved into the firehouse, “come on, they come out perfectly clean and shiny!”

“Patty ain’t eating no claw food and that’s that”, Patty declared, making the blonde shrug – before she popped the slice which had been for Patty in her mouth and said “more for me” around it, earning another scolding for talking with her mouth full.

“You should get used to that, Patty”, Abby commented as she walked up to them, “and be glad I got her to stop slicing the pizza with those things. She did that all the time when we’d just started working together. Hey guys, check this out.”

She held up the daily newspaper, the headline impossible to miss, in big, bold letters, the other three women frowning as they read the article Abby had pointed out to them.

**FIVE DEAD IN WAREHOUSE MASSACRE** , the headline blared, and the rest of the article was written just as lurid, detailing how a group of teenaged friends had met in an abandoned warehouse to drink and party, and how five of them had ended up dead, only one surviving, a traumatized girl who hadn’t been able to tell the police anything about the culprit.

“He was everywhere at once”, Abby read out loud, “no matter how fast we ran, and we couldn’t see him. Sounds like a ghost to me.”

“Indeed”, Erin had to agree, “and a very malevolent one, at that. Christ, that poor girl, she must have been so frightened…”

“We should check that place out”, Patty said out loud what they all were thinking, “just to make sure. Not that anyone is gonna do any partying there again anytime soon, but if an evil spirit is floatin’ around there, we need to take care of it.”

“Yeah”, Abby agreed at once, “let’s bring the gear just in case and get moving.”

“I’ll load up the car”, Holtzmann said, rushing off to do just that; the other three went to suit up, Erin grabbing Holtzmann’s coveralls before they moved out the front door to wait on the sidewalk, the engineer speeding around the corner a minute later, Erin as always riding shotgun while Abby and Patty got into the backseat, all four of them excited and a bit nervous as they sped to the warehouse and possibly their next bust.

* * *

 

The warehouse entrance had been sealed off by yellow tape from the police, the words Crime Scene – Do Not Cross stamped onto it in black, bold letters; this didn’t deter the Ghostbusters though, after all, they had been pretty much given the permit to enter any crime scene if they suspected it had been caused by ghostly activity, and so, they all ducked underneath the tape after Holtzmann had picked the lock and entered the building.

Clearly, no clean-up crew had been there yet, a large stain of dried blood greeting them right there in the lobby, at the bottom of the stairs which led up to the building’s second floor; there was more blood, enough that the smell of iron still lingered, at least enough for Holtzmann’s sensitive nose to pick up.

She wasn’t quite sure if the others could smell it, too, but they didn’t have to; as they slowly and methodically searched the building, Abby having the PKE meter out and ready, they found more blood, all over the place, the PKE meter staying disconcertingly quiet though.

“How strange”, Abby commented after they had searched for a while and, except for dried blood, had found nothing, “you’d think there’d at least be some… residual energy left? But there’s nothing at all, even though five people have been killed here, so the ghost must have been powerful.”

“Very”, Erin agreed, looking around, frowning a bit; they had encountered ghosts more or less regularly since they had founded the Ghostbusters, enough to know how strong exactly a ghost had to be to do so much damage, and it was more than strange that no trace of it was left.

“Maybe we should check upstairs”, she suggested, making the other three nod; she led the way, Holtzmann right behind her and Abby and Patty bringing up the rear side by side, all four of them glancing around as they made it to the top of the stairs.

The PKE meter stayed silent and dark, not even twitching; Abby briefly considered that it might actually be broken, but it had worked just fine during the last bust, and hadn’t taken any damage – and Abby knew better than to imply that the device had broken for no good reason, well aware how protective Holtzmann could get of the things she had built.

“This doesn’t make sense”, she said, glaring at the PKE meter as if it was to blame, “if it was a ghost, there should be something, a trace at least…”

“I have an idea”, Erin replied, looking back at the largest puddle of blood they had seen so far, the one at the bottom of the stairs; Abby gave her a curious look, and she cleared her throat before she continued.

“I’ve done some… research, on the power I have”, she let the other three know, not telling them anything new though, they all had taken note of her reading material, “now that I’m using it more and… there might be a chance that I can… pick something up. I’m not sure it’ll work but…”

“It’s worth a try”, Abby nodded, only for Holtzmann to ask if it was dangerous next, Erin shrugging in response, making the engineer frown a bit.

“It could be”, she had to admit, “I’ve never tried it before. I’m not even sure it’ll work, there are people who have this skill, but I don’t know if I’m one of them…”

“Be careful”, was all Holtzmann said after a moment, earning a brief smile and a nod from the physicist; figuring that the biggest blood stain would be a good start, Erin walked back downstairs, the others following suit, watching with a bit of concern how the physicist knelt down next to the stain and, after a moment of hesitation, reached out to touch it, letting her guard drop at the same time.

For a few seconds, nothing happened, and she frowned to herself, not quite sure what to do; she had read of people who could do this, who could pick up traces of emotion and thoughts in spots where something traumatizing had happened to someone, but she wasn’t sure if her powers included this, wondering if she’d have to be more of an empath than a mindreader to pick anything up.

Then, she felt _something_ , like a kind of thread, different to how it normally felt to pick up thoughts of people around her; and without allowing herself to think about it, and perhaps hesitate, Erin made a mental grab for it, a gasp escaping her and her eyes going wide as images flooded her mind.

_Running, running, just running, almost falling down the stairs, have to get away, away away before HE gets me, at the bottom of the stairs now, the door’s right over there I can make it I’m gonna make it oh God no he’s here I can feel him I can’t see him I can feel him oh God oh God oh GOD HELP ME NO—_

Erin jerked her hand back with another deep gasp of a breath, pain lancing through her head as the connection was cut off; she slumped back, dully surprised that she ended up right in Holtzmann’s waiting arms, feeling something hot and sticky trickle over her upper lip a moment later and realizing with a bit of dismay that whatever just had happened had given her a nosebleed.

“I’m okay”, she croaked out, glad that the pain was fading from her brain; apparently, Holtzmann wasn’t quite convinced though, as she kept her in her arms, concern clearly audible through her tone when she replied.

“You sure, babe?” she inquired, with a worried look at the physicist, “you looked like… I don’t know, like you’re having an epileptic fit or something.”

“I’m sure”, Erin reassured her, slowly daring to sit up, glad when she neither felt dizzy, nor had to suffer from another headache, “and I’m also sure that this really was a ghost, even if it left no trace of PKE, however it did that. I… picked up what the victim here felt, and they were definitely not killed by a human.”

“We have to talk to that girl”, Patty said, while Holtzmann helped Erin to her feet, making sure to keep an arm around her waist, just in case, “ask her what she has seen… or hasn’t seen, she did say that the killer was invisible.”

“She’s in the hospital”, Abby let them know, finally giving up on the PKE meter and putting it into her pocket, “I’ll call ahead to let them know we’re coming, and so we have time to let the mayor throw his weight around in case they give us trouble.”

Erin nodded, then looked at the dried blood again; she frowned to herself as she thought back to what she had seen, the thought that this was more dangerous and would be more difficult than any of them could imagine right now coming up unbidden, but lodging firmly in her brain, no matter how hard she tried to tell herself that certainly, things would be alright.


	2. Chapter 2

After Abby had made her call, the Ghostbusters went from the warehouse straight to the hospital in which the sole survivor of the massacre was taken care of; thankfully, the staff had no problem with letting them talk to her, even though one of the nurses warned them that they might not get much information from the poor girl.

“She was so hysterical”, the nurse explained as she led the four women to the girl’s room, “we had to sedate her, just to keep her from hurting herself or members of the staff. She might be lucid again by now, but if she goes into hysterics again, we might have to sedate her once more.”

“We’ll give our best to talk to her in a way which will not give her hysterics”, Abby reassured her, the group reaching the girl’s room half a minute later; the sign next to the door let them know that her name was Monica Winters, the nurse letting them know that she was a mere sixteen as she turned to look at them.

“Maybe not all four of us should walk in there at once”, Holtzmann pointed out, “that might overwhelm her a bit.”

“Patty, you do it”, Abby decided, not really surprising the historian – from the four of them, she was the one with the best social skills, Abby sometimes being too blunt, Holtzmann being too Holtzmann, and Erin too shy and anxious with people she didn’t know, even though being a Ghostbuster had given her self-confidence quite the boost.

“Alright”, Patty thus just said, “I’ll see what I can get out of her.”

She knocked, just to be polite, then entered the room; the girl looked even younger than sixteen as she warily looked at her from the bed, pale and dark circles beneath her eyes, but at least, Patty thought to herself, she didn’t look frightened, even a bit curious as she took a closer look at the historian’s coveralls.

“Hello”, Patty smiled, giving her best to sound and look friendly and not threatening at all, aware that she could be quite the imposing figure, “I’m Patty Tolan, from the Ghostbusters.”

“I’ve heard of you”, Monica replied, sounding tired, but aware enough, “you’re here because of what happened at the warehouse…?”

“Yes”, Patty confirmed, pulling a chair closer to the bed and sitting down, “we read what you said about the… person who did this your friends and you.”

“It was no person”, Monica replied at once, a tremble in her voice now, “I don’t know what it was, maybe it was a ghost, or some sort of demon, but no human…”

“We know, and we believe you”, Patty reassured her at once, thinking of what Erin had told them on the drive to the hospital, about what she had seen when she had picked up the traces of the person who had died at the bottom of the stairs, “and we want to capture this thing so it can never hurt anyone again. Okay? But I’ll need you tell me as much as you can about it, alright?”

“We just wanted to party”, Monica told her, with an audible tremble in her voice, “and Jason suggested going there, saying no one would interrupt us there… and we had fun, for a while, but then Emily went to get more beer and suddenly she was screaming and came running back and she was bleeding…”

She paused, trying to calm herself down as she took in a few deep breaths; eager to comfort her, Patty reached out to rub her shoulder, making sure not to touch her skin to skin – the poor girl would only freak out more, the historian knew, if she made direct contact and accidentally took some of her energy – prompting Monica to give her an unhappy look, her eyes watering as she continued.

She told Patty as much as she could, how they had tried to run, and how her friends had gone down one by one, wounds appearing on their bodies out of nowhere; she let the historian know that she wasn’t quite sure how she had gotten away, but somehow, she had managed, and had run to the road, where a woman on her way home from work had found her and had taken her to the hospital.

“That was very helpful, Monica, thank you”, Patty told her, realizing that she wouldn’t get any more information out of her, and that she quite likely might send her into hysterics again by asking her more, “I promise, the Ghostbusters will take care of this thing.”

“Destroy it”, Monica whispered, looking around briefly as if she was worried someone might be listening, “it killed my friends, please make sure it can’t hurt anyone ever again…”

“We will”, Patty reassured her, patting her shoulder again; Monica gave her another miserable look, then mumbled that she was tired, the historian coming to her feet in response and telling her she should get some rest.

The girl nodded in response, eyes already falling close; giving her best to not disturb her, Patty left the room and gently closed the door behind herself, letting out a sigh as she looked at the other three Ghostbusters.

“That poor girl has been through some shit”, she let them know, then gave a brief recap of what the girl had told her; by the time she got done, all three women frowned, Abby shaking her head to herself.

“So it must have been a ghost, or at least something non-human”, she said, “if they couldn’t see it and it could hurt them out of nowhere. But it makes no sense, there should have been something, some sort of trace…”

“What if it left”, Holtzmann wanted to know, frowning as well, “you know, what if it’s not tied to that building? Maybe that’s why there was nothing left there.”

“Could be”, Erin nodded, brow furrowing in thought, “a ghost doesn’t necessarily need to be tied to a place, and if that one isn’t… But how are we going to find it, then?”

“Good question”, Abby had to admit, grimacing at the thought of a ghost on the loose out there which was not tied to a specific location, “but we have to come up with _something_ , I mean, we can’t let this thing run wild out there…”

“Let’s head back to the firehouse for now”, Erin suggested, “and see what we can come up with. Like Abby said, we have to do something, before this ghost hurts or even kills more people…”

“And we should go back to the warehouse tonight”, Patty added, “these poor kids who got murdered there, I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of them comes back as a ghost.”

“I’ll stake the place out”, Holtzmann offered, “you guys know I don’t need much sleep.”

“You’re not going to do that alone”, Erin said at once, in a strict tone, Abby and Patty nodding along in agreement, “and yes, before you remind me, I know you have your blades and you heal fast, but we won’t let you hang out in a place alone where five malevolent spirits might show up, and maybe with that killer ghost as a bonus.”

“I’ll come with her”, Abby said, with a look of mischief at Erin, “because if you go there with her, we all know you’ll end up… distracted. Also, I can teleport away in case something attacks us out of nowhere.”

“Alright, but be careful”, Erin gave back, making them both nod; glad that they had at least some sort of plan, the Ghostbusters left the hospital afterwards and headed back to the firehouse, all four of them pondering what the girl had told Patty and what they could do, should the murderous ghost not show up at the warehouse again.

* * *

“I can’t believe you brought a whole book filled with crossword puzzles”, Holtzmann said hours later, with an incredulous look at her friend, “I can barely get through one of these!”

“I know that”, Abby replied, unperturbed, shifting a bit in an attempt to get comfortable on the stairs she had chosen as her seat, Holtzmann sitting at their bottom on the floor so she was looking up at her, “but you know that I love those, and we have to keep busy until the ghosts arrive. If they do.”

“As long as you don’t fall asleep on me”, the engineer gave back, snickering when Abby let her know that she’d had three cans of Monster and certainly wouldn’t, only to gasp a second later as she realized what this implied.

“Wait, were those from my stash?” she demanded to know, incredulous when Abby blushed a bit, the look on her face being enough of an answer.

“I don’t drink those normally so I had to take them from you”, the researcher defended herself at the look Holtzmann shot her, “I’ll buy you some new ones, promise.”

“You better”, Holtzmann grumbled, and just then, her ears popped and the fine hairs in the back of her neck rose, and Abby sat up straight, her crosswords and energy drinks forgotten as she had felt it, too.

“Over there”, Abby was the first to notice the ghost materializing, pointing it out to Holtzmann, the ghostly figure of a teenaged girl appearing not far from where the engineer was sitting, prompting her to hurriedly come to her feet and reach for her proton wand, Abby getting up as well and readying her own weapon.

The ghost looked around, apparently unsure where she was; then, her gaze fell on Abby and Holtzmann, and her face twisted in anger, making it quite obvious that her violent death had not allowed her to return as a benevolent apparition.

“Okay, she’s obviously pissed”, Abby observed, keeping her voice low so only Holtzmann would hear her, “but let’s try trapping her instead of destroying her, anyway, there’s still room in the containment unit.”

Holtzmann nodded, activating her proton wand, feeling a brief sense of satisfaction at the low hum the pack produced; Abby did the same, and they both took aim, just as the ghost rushed at them, shrieking in anger when they both pushed the trigger button and she got ensnared in the proton beams.

“Good thing she’s not too strong yet”, Abby called over the crackling of the beams, earning a brief nod from Holtzmann; she pulled the trap from where she had it strapped to the bottom of her pack and tossed it as close to the ghost as she could, stomping down onto the pedal which opened it a second later.

Together, the two of them wrestled the ghost into the trap, smoke rising from it once the apparition had been forced into it and Holtzmann had made it snap shut; they exchanged a proud look as they took their thumb off the trigger, then high-fived, glad that the job had been done without much of a hassle.

“We’re really getting good at this”, Holtzmann said, proud – and just then, Abby’s eyes went wide, and she spun around, but before she could do more than that, the ghost of one of the teenage boys who had gotten killed started spewing slime at her, and she immediately felt bad for the times she had teased Erin whenever this had happened to the physicist.

It really did go in every crack, she realized quickly as the stuff slid into her coveralls and clothes and underwear; and it was ice cold, goose bumps forming all over her body, until the flow of slime stopped from one moment to the next – as Abby had pulled on her proton glove and punched the ghost, teleporting out of the danger zone before he had a chance to react.

Snarling through the slime dripping from her face, Holtzmann popped her claws out, then pushed the buttons which activated the proton streams, the sharp blades deadly for ghosts as well when the streams coated them.

With another snarl, the engineer slashed at the ghost, and thanks to how weak the apparition still was, it only took one cut to take him apart; he howled as he vanished, and even though no more ghosts were in sight for the moment, Holtzmann kept her claws out and the proton streams going, figuring that there were at least three ghosts left – four, if the one who had killed them was still around as well after all.

“We have to find the others”, Abby said, “before they get the idea to leave this place and haunt their families, they are suffering enough as it is.”

Holtzmann nodded, not surprised when Abby activated the PKE meter and it went crazy at once; the two of them exchanged one look, then got moving, eager to send the three remaining ghosts on into the afterlife before any more harm could be done.


	3. Chapter 3

Erin had known that she wouldn’t be able to get any proper sleep as long as Abby and Holtzmann were at the warehouse, and so, she had stayed awake at the firehouse, keeping busy with her work; and only when she heard the door open, and heard Holtzmann and Abby talk, she could relax, getting up to meet them, glad that they both were okay, even though she frowned when she saw that Holtzmann had gotten slimed.

“Babe”, Holtzmann said as she took note of how the frown then vanished and the corners of Erin’s mouth twitched, “laugh all you want. And I solemnly swear I will never tease you again when this happens to you. It’s horrible.”

“Told you”, Erin said, unable to hold the smirk back any longer, “aw, poor you.”

“That would sound a lot more sincere if you weren’t grinning like that”, Holtzmann told her, earning a little giggle, “but I forgive you, cause you forgave me too for all the times I snickered at you when you got slimed. Help me wash this off?”

“You two”, Abby threw in with a roll of her eyes, “if you’re getting it on at the shower here, I’m going home. Holtz, don’t poke a hole into the pipes in case you get another claw boner.”

“I wish you’d stop calling it that”, Holtzmann grumbled while Erin giggled again; the engineer rolled her eyes at her, then Abby headed out and the couple made their way upstairs to the bathroom, Holtzmann grimacing as she pulled off the coveralls and they made an audible squelching noise when they hit the floor.

“You know”, the engineer said as she got rid of the rest of her clothing, letting it drop onto the coveralls, “I blame you for the claw boner thing. You’re the first who ever said that.”

“I find that hard to believe”, Erin replied, eying her unabashedly as she undressed – she had been considerably shyer when they had started dating, but quickly had learned that Holtzmann didn’t mind the slightest when Erin showed her appreciation for her build, the engineer in fact quite enjoying the way Erin was looking at her.

“Certainly this has happened before”, she added as she unbuttoned her own blouse, even though she’d only join Holtzmann once most of the slime would be gone; to her surprise, the engineer shook her head, then winked at her, undoing her hair and letting it fall down her shoulders and back as she replied. “Nope, never before. You’re special, hot stuff."

“Aw”, Erin let out, blushing, “I’d hug and kiss you now, but, well, you know…” She gestured at the slime which still clung to the other woman’s body; Holtzmann grinned and let her know that she could hug and kiss her once she’d be clean, then hopped into the shower, Erin taking off the rest of her clothes while the blonde started to wash down.

It took her a while, but finally, all the slime she had been able to reach was gone; once that had been accomplished, she called out for Erin, and the physicist joined her in the shower, helping her with the slime on her back, and embracing her from behind once the last traces of the green goo were gone.

“I do believe I promised you a hug and a kiss”, she mumbled, running her hands over the engineer’s stomach; smirking, Holtzmann turned to her face, returned the embrace and then pulled her closer, letting her hands glide down Erin’s back, the redhead letting out a small moan in response.

“You know”, she mumbled once Holtzmann had pulled back from the kiss and had lowered her head to run her tongue over her throat, making her shudder despite the hot water raining down on them, “I felt quite tired by the time Abby and you came back here, but now, I’m very much awake again.”

“Good to know”, Holtzmann mumbled into her ear, nibbling on the lobe for a few moments afterwards, knowing this was another thing Erin liked, even though not as much as having her throat kissed or licked, “so I get to tire you out again.”

“Mhm”, Erin let out, smiling; the engineer gave her another smirk in response, then kissed her again, a content sigh coming from the physicist when she felt the younger woman gently cup her breast.

When the fine hairs on her arms and at the back of her neck rose, Erin figured that it had been caused by her arousal, and thought nothing of it… and then, her ears popped, and from how Holtzmann pulled back from the kiss at once, she could tell that the engineer had felt it, too.

She just had time to say “What the—”, then Holtzmann let out a yelp as her head was jerked back into her neck and she was violently yanked out of the shower by her hair, hitting the ground hard.

“Holtzmann!” Erin cried out, eyes going wide, turning to see what was going on, something large and heavy slamming into her a second later and throwing her back against the wall, stars exploding in front of her eyes when the back of her head connected hard with the tiles.

She lost her footing and, as she helplessly scrambled for something to hold on to, only managed to grab the shower curtain, and tore it off the rod, yelping in pain again as she hit the tub hard.

“Erin”, she heard Holtzmann from outside the tub, struggling to get the curtain off of her, the pain in her head and back not helping; she managed to sit up and to get the curtain out of the way, just in time to see how whichever invisible force was attacking them grab the engineer – and slam her up, until her back hit the wall hard, then drop her, a grunt coming from the blonde when she hit the ground.

Clearly though, to Erin’s relief, she came to her feet again quickly, not caring the slightest that she was completely naked, snarling as her claws popped out, even though without the proton gloves, they wouldn’t be of much use.

“Where are you, fuckwit”, the engineer growled, glaring around in a helpless attempt to spot whatever was doing this to them; as if to taunt her, it kicked her in the back next, and they both heard malicious laughter when Holtzmann twirled around, eyes narrowing as she couldn’t spot anything.

Erin gasped when the low sound of a fist meeting flesh echoed through the small room, Holtzmann doubling over as the air got knocked out of her; they heard the laughter again, then the engineer’s head snapped back in her neck as she got kicked in the face, blood spraying from her nose and mouth, making Erin cry out again.

She knew that it was hard to do serious damage to Holtzmann, if not impossible, and as if to confirm these thoughts, the blood stopped flowing a second later and the cut in her lip closed; there was something wild and feral in her eyes now though as she glared through the room, the laughter coming up yet again before the attack ended as quickly as it had begun.

Giving her best to ignore the pain in her back and head, Erin got out of the tub at last, taking note of how tense Holtzmann was as she stood there, blood drying on her upper lip and chin, the blades still out and glinting in the artificial bathroom light, her breathing harsh and fast, with that oddly growly undertone Erin had heard from her before whenever she had been upset or angry.

“Holtz”, she said, eager to calm her down, not even caring anymore that she was naked as she moved to where the engineer was standing, not making the mistake to touch her – she hadn’t seen her like this often, but whenever it happened, she knew that touching her without warning was a bad idea.

“Holtz”, she thus said again, instead of making physical contact, positioning herself so that the engineer was facing her, making sure to hold her gaze, “whatever that was, it’s gone. Alright? Can you calm down? For me?”

It took a few moments, but finally, she got sort of a response from Holtzmann, in form of the engineer’s blades slowly sliding back inside her forearms; and the moment they were fully retracted, Erin reached out to touch her hand, knowing it was safe at this point, glad when immediately, the engineer’s fingers curled around hers, her breath becoming less harsh, as well.

“Okay, good”, Erin smiled, hiding it well how concerned this was making her, not wanting to upset Holtzmann more, “Jesus Christ, what was that?”

“I better check the containment unit”, the engineer grumbled, still tense as she wasn’t sure if the thing was still around, “maybe one of our guests escaped from there… Your ears popped too, right?”

Erin nodded, running a shaky hand through her hair; and then, she realized that she was still naked and dripping wet, blushing, but not bothering to cover herself up, figuring that this would be rather odd after all the times Holtzmann already had seen her naked.

“I’ll check the containment unit”, Holtzmann distracted her from her nakedness, “you should call Abby and Patty, maybe that ghost will go after them, as well.”

With her worry growing again, Erin nodded, quickly throwing on her bathrobe before she rushed to get her phone; and while she called the other two Ghostbusters, Holtzmann put on her own robe, went to check the containment unit, still feeling uneasy after the attack, the feeling only growing when she realized that the unit was perfectly fine and that the apparition which had attacked them hadn’t come from within their headquarters.

* * *

“Abby says that she felt something, while we were talking”, Erin told Holtzmann a short while later, as the engineer was checking the containment unit for the third time, too wired to sleep after what had happened and eager to make completely sure that it truly hadn’t been one of the ghosts they had captured, “Patty didn’t, but they’ll both come here, for strength in numbers.”

“Good”, Holtzmann mumbled; had it been anyone else, Erin might have been taken aback or even hurt by this short and somewhat grumbly answer, but she knew Holtzmann at this point, and knew how the engineer reacted to stress and to feeling angry.

And so, she didn’t say anything, but simply moved closer to rub the other woman’s back; she could feel how tense Holtzmann was, but after a while, the muscle relaxed noticeably, and the younger woman let out a sigh as she pushed her googles up into her shaggy hair, then gave Erin an unhappy look.

“Definitely did not escape from the unit”, she said, not really surprising Erin – after all, the physicist knew that, while Holtzmann was reckless during busts and with her work in progress, not needing to worry about getting hurt, but she’d never let anyone else of the team work with something which wasn’t a hundred percent safe.

“That ghost”, Erin blurted as a thought hit her, her eyes going wide, prompting Holtzmann to give her a confused and questioning look, and making her elaborate, “the one which attacked those teenagers? The girl said they couldn’t see it, and we couldn’t see that one, either… What if it was the ghost from the warehouse? It seems a bit much of a coincidence that two invisible ghosts are on the loose at the same time.”

“Good point”, Holtzmann said, and just then, Erin’s ears popped again; Holtzmann flinched, and the physicist had a chance to wonder if she had felt it, too… and then the engineer began to smile, and from the smile alone, Erin could tell that something horrible just had happened.

“Congrats”, Holtzmann went on, eying her and giving her a sardonic grin, so unlike the way she normally smiled at her that it made her blood run cold, “you figured it out faster than I thought you would. I guess you really are a genius, hm, Dr Gilbert?”

“Get out of her”, Erin replied tonelessly, hands clenching into fists as she realized how helpless she was, and in which danger she was in – Holtzmann would never hurt her, she knew, but the same certainly couldn’t be said for the ghost which had taken control of the engineer, and if the apparition wanted to, it could snap her neck like a twig.

“Ah, I don’t think so”, the ghost said with Holtzmann’s voice, stretching languidly, “this body is quite… interesting. I’ll have fun with that one. Such interesting… features.”

The ghost brought one hand up, and the claws slid out, Erin swallowing heavily; she took one step back, but it didn’t save her, pain flashing through her body as Holtzmann easily caught up to her and slashed at her, and as she hit the floor and laid there, curled up in pain and bleeding, she heard the engineer laugh as her footsteps and voice faded away, the door falling close behind her a short while later.


	4. Chapter 4

Erin wasn’t sure when she had passed out, but when she came back around, she realized quickly that she was in an ambulance; her side felt as if someone had doused it in gasoline and then set it on fire, and she whimpered, tears caused by both the physical pain and the memories of what had happened coming back.

“Erin”, she heard Abby from somewhere to her right, and tediously raised her head to look for her best friend, only to end up gently, but still firmly pushed back down by the ambulance man next to her, “Erin, I’m here, Patty is right behind the ambulance, you’ll be okay.”

“Holtz”, Erin whispered in response, prompting the researcher to lean closer to she could hear her, the redhead feeling her best friend’s fingers curl around hers moments later, “Holtz, it… it took her…”

Abby was at the same time horrified and relieved, an odd mixture of emotions – it had been pretty obvious how Erin had been hurt, from the three deep gashes in her side, but the thought of Holtzmann cutting her like this had been unimaginable to Abby, and now, there was sort of an explanation for it, and even if it was a bad one, it meant that it hadn’t been Holtzmann’s doing.

“We’ll find her”, she promised, squeezing Erin’s hand, even though they had no idea how they would do that yet; and clearly, Erin knew this, a few tears trickling down her cheeks as she held on tight to Abby’s hand, a wince escaping her when the ambulance drove over a pothole and fresh pain lanced through her side.

“Erin”, she heard Abby say, somewhat frantic now, as her eyes fell close; she tried to open them again, knew it would be bad to pass out once more, but darkness quickly took over again, her last thought being of Holtz before she slipped back into unconsciousness.

* * *

When Erin woke for the second time, she found herself in a hospital room, and judging from the daylight which lit up the room, she had been out cold for at least a few hours, her eyes going wide as she thought back to the ghost possessing Holtzmann and taking her body God knew where.

“Erin, honey”, Patty’s voice distracted her from that unpleasant realization, the historian bending over her moments later, “you awake? How are you feeling?”

“Hurts”, Erin mumbled, barely daring to move; she could feel a tight bandage around her mid-section, and the slight pull of stitches where the claws had sliced into her flesh, but she figured that she’d already been given painkillers while she had been out cold, and didn’t want to imagine how much worse her pain might have been otherwise.

“You’ll be okay”, Patty told her in response, patting her arm reassuringly, the thin gloves she was wearing making the contact a little less personal than it would have been with Abby, but also making sure that she wouldn’t accidentally drain Erin’s power and energy, “the doctor said you were lucky, those cuts aren’t as deep as they could have ended up being… Honey, I know you’re in pain, but can you tell me what happened?”

“The ghost”, Erin mumbled in response, falling silent again though when the door opened, feeling relieved when she saw it was Abby, the researcher carrying two cups of coffee and smiling at her when she saw that she was awake, even though the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, “the one from the warehouse… It attacked us while we were in the shower, then it was gone, when I went to call Abby I think it was with her, but it must have realized that Holtzmann would be… the best choice so it possessed her and…”

She fell silent, fighting against her tears as she thought back to how Holtzmann had looked at her, the cruel smile which had been on the engineer’s face seconds before the cold metal had cut into her side, how she had laughed when she had walked off, just leaving the physicist there on the floor, hurt and bleeding…

“Erin, honey”, Patty said in alarm, having noticed how Erin’s breath had started to quicken, “it’s okay, we’ll figure this out.”

“How?” Erin demanded to know, leaving both Abby and Patty at a loss for words, “New York is big, it could have taken Holtz God knows where by now, and done God knows what… and you know no one will be able to stop her, not with regular methods, if she can’t overpower that ghost somehow…”

Abby remembered well how it had been when Rowan had possessed her, and that she’d no chance to overpower him back then; wisely, she kept these thoughts to herself… only to see how Erin’s face started to work, and realizing too late that, for once, she had forgotten to shield her thoughts, and Erin clearly hadn’t had her guard up, and had picked up enough of her thoughts to know exactly what she had been thinking about.

“God”, Erin let out, burying her face in her hands, “what are we going to do? This is so bad…”

“I’ll call the mayor”, Abby gave back, coming to her feet, “and tell them what happened. And I’ll call Dr Gorin, too, she knows about Holtzmann, maybe she’ll be able to help…”

Erin wasn’t quite sure how the elder woman might be able to help, but nodded anyway; Abby left to make the phone calls, and Erin slumped back into the pillow, staring up at the ceiling as she struggled to hold back her tears, unable to stop wondering where Holtzmann might be right now and what the ghost was using her body for.

* * *

Erin had to stay in the hospital for four days – the doctors would have kept her longer, too, with her injuries just having begun to properly heal at this point, but she wouldn’t have any of it – and during those four days, none of them had an idea where Holtzmann was or what that ghost was doing with her body.

If the ghost was out there committing crimes, it was kept out of the news by the mayor and his people; the three women all knew that this made sense, no one knew that the government was funding the Ghostbusters and no one knew that all four of them were mutants, but they still weren’t happy about it, since it meant that they had no chance to find out what was happening to Holtzmann, either.

Erin laid awake many hours during the nights she was in the hospital, thinking of how Holtzmann had looked at her before she had cut her – she knew it hadn’t been Holtzmann, she _knew,_ but still the memories hurt, more than the wounds themselves did, and the thought of the engineer somewhere out there, controlled by a malevolent spirit, and possibly fully aware of what was happening, but unable to stop it, made the whole situation even worse.

After four days, she had enough of just lying around, and insisted on leaving; nobody thought it was a good idea, not even Abby and Patty, but Erin refused to back down, and so, the doctors released her – after having her sign a bunch of forms with which she took sole responsibility for discharging herself early – and the other two Ghostbusters took her back to the firehouse, both well aware that they wouldn’t be able to talk her out of this.

“No busting”, Abby strictly told her once they were in Ecto-1, not having missed the flash of pain on Erin’s face when she had gotten into the passenger seat, “and nothing else which might tear any of those stitches. Erin, are you sure this is a good idea?"

“No”, Erin replied, somewhat blunt, but honest, “but I can’t stay in that hospital longer while a crazy ghost is doing God knows what with my girlfriend’s body. We have to do something to find her… Did Dr Gorin have any ideas?”

“No”, Abby sighed, keeping her gaze focused on the road, “she still has a few contacts to the… people who did this to Holtz, they don’t know that she was the one to get her out apparently, but other than that… Not even she can get past the gag order the mayor put out on this.”

“Damn it”, Erin mumbled, leaning her head against the headrest and staring out the window, “there has to be _something_ we can do, we can’t just sit around and wait for her to get arrested or whatever…”

“If they even can arrest her”, Patty pointed out from the back seat, “guns won’t do a thing against her, and if that ghost has no trouble killing people…”

Erin closed her eyes in response and took in a deep breath, hoping that somehow, Holtzmann wasn’t aware of what the ghost was doing with her body; she didn’t want to imagine the guilt the engineer had to feel if the spirit was using her to kill people and all she could do was watch helplessly.

“I have an idea”, she said after a few minutes had ticked by in silence, opening her eyes again, Abby giving her a brief questioning look before the researcher focused on the road again, “I’m not sure it’ll work but… maybe I can find her with my powers, if I focus all my energy on her, pick up some of her thoughts…”

“Have you ever done this before?” Abby wanted to know, frowning, her frown deepening when Erin shook her head, even though she wasn’t very surprised – after all, she knew that Erin had barely used her gift before the Ghostbusters had found each other, and certainly, Erin hadn’t had a good reason to try something like the stunt she just had suggested.

She also knew though that they didn’t really have a choice, not if they wanted to avoid just sitting around and waiting for something to happen; and so, she gave a brief nod after a moment, sounding stern, but worried when she told Erin that she’d have to take care though, not quite sure that the physicist meant it when she reassured her that she would.

* * *

Holtzmann’s head hurt, and she was vaguely aware that _something_ had happened, something possibly very bad; her last conscious memory was of Erin saying something about the invisible ghost from the warehouse coming after them, how she had agreed that this had been a good point… and then, there was an unsettling black hole in her memory, only flashes coming up here and there, of people crying and screaming, policemen yelling at her to stand down, muzzle flashes as someone shot at her.

She groaned as the ache in her head increased, and tried to raise one hand, only to have her movement stopped roughly after just a few inches; confused, Holtzmann lifted her aching head to see what was holding her back, and her blood ran cold when she saw the broad silver cuff around her wrist, chaining her to the stretcher she laid on.

The same had been done to her other hand, she belatedly realized, and to her ankles; and the way she had been chained, she had to admit to herself, sweat breaking out all over her body, made sure she couldn’t use her claws to free herself, no matter how hard she’d try, she wouldn’t get at the short chains with them.

“Don’t bother”, she heard a voice behind her, but couldn’t see the speaker, no matter how much she craned her neck, her heartrate spiking when she realized she was in the back of a driving van, “we know what you are and what you can do. The subject’s awake, give it another dose.”

A man bent over her then, a syringe glistening between his fingers; she saw the uniform he was wearing, and her panic reached new heights, a sound of fear and disbelief coming from her as the needle was pushed into the crock of her arm.

“No”, Holtzmann brought out as the soldier injected her, the liquid cold in her veins, “no, please…”

He just looked at her hard and uncaring, not all too gentle as he pulled the syringe back out; and seconds later, her body went slack as the injection did its job, and she didn’t wake again until the van had reached its destination.


	5. Chapter 5

Figuring that surrounding herself with things which belonged to Holtzmann would make keeping her focus easier, Erin walked straight to the lab the moment Ecto-1 had been parked in the garage; Abby and Patty followed her, worried for her safety, but knowing there was nothing they could do to help as she sat down and carefully picked up the latest project the engineer had been working on.

Closing her eyes, Erin focused on Holtzmann, on what the blonde made her feel, on the times they had spent together; and once she had conjured up a flawless image of the engineer in her mind, she tried to reach out for Holtzmann’s thoughts.

She never had done this before, wasn’t sure it could be done, but knew that she had to try; it was the only thing they had been able to come up with to have some sort of chance at finding Holtzmann, and she gave her best to make it work.

And for a second, a blissful moment, she almost thought that she had done it, that she was going to pick up _something_ any moment now; before she could latch onto that feeling though, and perhaps feed into it, it was gone, and she groaned in frustration.

Not willing to give up so fast, Erin tried again, again with no luck; figuring that perhaps, she needed another object, she put the weapon Holtzmann had been working on back on the workbench, then went to get the shirt the engineer slept in, holding it in her lap as she focused again.

And again, and again, until her head hurt and her eyes were watering, but she wasn’t willing to stop, not as long as she had the tiniest sliver of hope that it might work left.

“Erin”, Abby gently said as the redhead felt something hot and sticky trickle down her upper lip, “Erin, stop. You’ll end up hurting yourself.”

“You already got a nosebleed, babygirl”, Patty added, handing her a tissue; feeling defeated, Erin pressed it to her nose as her shoulders slumped, feeling on the verge of tears, her wounds aching along with her head now from sitting upright for so long, the physicist startled when she saw how long she had been trying to pick up a thought of the engineer.

“Dammit”, she brought out, tears filling her eyes, not just caused by the pain in her head and her side, “it didn’t work, what are we supposed to do now?”

“We’ll keep our eyes and ears open”, Abby replied, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, “and I’ll talk to the mayor again, they’ll have to tell us something. Or hey, now that you’re out of the hospital, you should come along, maybe you can get something from his mind he’s keeping from us.”

“Good idea”, Erin had to concede, knowing this was all they could do for now; she felt desolate and hopeless as she went to put Holtzmann’s shirt back into the bedroom they shared at the firehouse, a few tears landing on the fabric as she carefully folded it and put it back onto the bed, feeling as if she had failed the engineer and wondering what her power was good for if she couldn’t even use it to find her girlfriend.

* * *

As it turned out, the mayor refused to let Erin into his office, all too aware of her mind reading skills and clearly hiding something he didn’t want her to see; this infuriated her, but short of having Abby teleport her into the office – and risk them both getting arrested – there was nothing they could do, and so, they once more were forced to wait for something to happen.

Three days passed like this, with Erin trying several more times to find Holtzmann, never with any success though; she wasn’t willing to give up though, trying as often as she dared, Abby or Patty stopping her each time before she could give herself another nosebleed.

Then, on the fourth day after she had left the hospital, something did happen, and the news which were given to the Ghostbusters were worse than they could have imagined.

“Boss Erin?” Kevin said on the morning of that fateful day, looking a bit worried as he entered the kitchen, where Erin was making coffee, even though she was quite sure not even that would help anymore, with how little she had slept ever since Holtzmann had been taken away by the ghost possessing her, “um… A Dr Korinn is here to see you.”

“Dr Ko…” Erin started to repeat, then realized whom he was talking about, “wait, Dr Gorin?”

“That’s what I said”, Kevin gave back, confused; Erin shot him a look, then moved past him to the lobby, where Dr Gorin was sitting on the couch, looking stiff – and more concerned than Erin had seen her even when Holtzmann had been lying injured and unconscious on the couch in their old lab.

“Dr Gilbert”, the elder woman greeted her the moment she had seen her, getting up from her seat, “are Dr Yates and Miss Tolan around, too? What I have to tell you all is very important.”

“Yes”, Erin gave back, fighting the impulse to look into the woman’s mind as she called out for Abby and Patty; they heard the urgency in her voice, and Patty came running while Abby appeared out of thin air next to her, Dr Gorin looking a bit taken aback at the teleport, but not commenting on it.

“Dr Gorin”, the researcher said once Patty had joined them, too, “what’s wrong? It’s about Holtz, isn’t it?”

“And here I thought Dr Gilbert was the mind reader”, Dr Gorin replied dryly, then grew serious again, “and yes, it is. One of my contacts from the military contacted me.”

“Oh God”, Erin let out, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as she suddenly knew what the elder woman would tell them, even without looking into her mind; and the look Dr Gorin gave her in response, one of sympathy and pain, confirmed her worst suspicions even before the other woman spoke up again.

“Yes”, she said, with the tiniest tremble in her voice now, “the military got their hands on her again. She’s back at Project X and God knows what they will do to her this time.”

* * *

_Pain pain pain_

_She was in so much pain_

_She healed fast but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel pain and they knew they_ knew _and so they hurt her and cut her open and didn’t care when she screamed and begged and then they were in her brain all the way in her_ brain _and she could feel them there taking over taking control like the ghost had only worse because she’s still there and she can_

_still_

_FEEL_

* * *

“I would go in there with you, but there might still be people from the old crew around, and I can’t take the risk”, Dr Gorin said as they all sat in the Ecto-1, close to where the secret lab where Holtzmann was kept was, according to her contact, “so you’ll have to do this without me.”

Bravely, Erin nodded, accepting the lab coat the scientist was holding out to her; Abby and Patty got one each, as well, and once they had dressed up, they walked to the lab’s entrance, said entrance hidden in an old, abandoned shed, a soldier standing guard at the door which would lead them down into the subterranean laboratory.

_Don’t they know that having a soldier stand around in a supposedly abandoned shed makes it interesting in the first place?_ Erin wondered as the three women approached; the man looked up and frowned, clearly not thinking that they belonged there, but before he could challenge them, Erin spoke up, giving her best to influence his mind, something she hadn’t done often, but had learned she was capable of since the Ghostbusters had been formed and she used her powers more and more.

“We work here, you know”, she said, at the same time sending affirmative thoughts at his mind, hoping that it would work – because if it didn’t, they might as well end up arrested or even shot on sight, and Holtzmann would remain in the hands of these people, “you know we work here.”

“…you work here”, the soldier said after a few tense seconds had ticked by, “please, step inside, Doctors.”

“Thank you”, Erin said, giving her best to sound a bit haughty, but only managing to sound relieved, the soldier clearly not caring though as he stepped aside to let them pass; Abby gave her a look of approval as she pulled the door open and they entered, walking down a short flight of stairs until they found themselves in front of another door, this one locked by a magnetic lock which only could be opened with the right key card.

Thankfully, Gorin’s contact had snuck one out for her, and Patty used it to open the door; they went through, and ended up in a white sterile hallway, doors lining it, the silence somewhat unsettling – Erin wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but certainly not this dead quiet.

“We don’t have an idea where she is, do we”, Abby whispered, the physicist dismayed as she shook her head; she briefly thought about trying to locate Holtzmann with her mind again, then decided against it – it might backfire right into her brain again, and take her out of commission in a critical moment, the little mind trick she had performed on the soldier having taken the quite the toll on her powers already.

_I really have to practice more,_ she still had time to think as they walked down the hallway – and then the doors opened, and soldiers stepped out and aimed their weapons at them, one of them firing three small darts from an odd looking pistol into Abby’s back before the researcher could do more than gasp, her eyes rolling back in her head and her body collapsing before she had the chance to teleport to safety.

“I suggest you don’t move”, the only man who didn’t aim a weapon at them said, sounding a bit amused, the stripes on his uniform signalling that he was more than a simple soldier, “unless you want to end up knocked out like Dr Yates here. I’m told the after-effects feel like a very bad hangover, so I wouldn’t risk it. Hands where I can see them.”

Obediently, Erin and Patty raised their hands, both of them feeling quite foolish now – clearly, they had walked into some sort of trap, and if they had paused for a minute to think instead of blindly rushing in, they might have realized that.

Now it was too late though, and all Erin could do was swallow heavily as one soldiers stepped up to her and Patty each and pulled their arms behind their back, cold steel closing around her wrists moments later.

“You have no right to do this”, Patty said, sounding angry, “neither to us, nor to Holtzy! You ever heard of human rights?!”

“You’re not human”, the man replied, the casualty with which he said this making Erin’s blood run cold, “none of you four. No worries though, you won’t be with us for long, only until we took what we want from you. Take Dr Gilbert to examination room 3b, and Miss Tolan and Dr Yates to one of the holding cells.”

The soldier who had cuffed her grabbed her arm, saying “Yes, General” as he did so; the general smiled and took a step aside, and later on, Erin would realize that he had done this on purpose, that he had kept this final nasty surprise for the last moment to rattle both Patty and her even more.

Holtzmann was standing behind him, in uniform like the rest of them, not aiming a weapon at them – _not that she needs one,_ Erin dully thought to herself – her hands clasped behind her back instead; she was looking at them with strangely blank and empty eyes, not the slightest hint of recognition there.

“Holtzmann”, Erin said as the soldier started to lead her off, towards the examination room, “Holtz! It’s me, and Abby and Patty, Holtzmann! Help us!”

“Don’t bother”, the general said, smiling a tight-lipped smile now, “my dear X-19 here has no idea who you are. We made sure of that.”

“Holtzmann!” Erin almost shrieked as the soldier dragged her past the blonde; Holtzmann didn’t even look at her though, and didn’t look after her as she was taken away, Erin’s heart breaking as she realized that the general hadn’t exaggerated when he had said that the blonde had no idea who she was anymore.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning, this chapter has quite a bit of fighting, violence and blood.

Erin didn’t know how long she had been lying strapped to the examination table, but it had been quite a while; her mouth was dry by the time the door opened at last, and two soldiers entered, followed by an elderly man in a white lab coat, the general – and Holtzmann, the two soldiers standing left and right of the door while the man in the coat walked to her side, the general behind him – he was close enough now so Erin could read his name tag, _Nashton_ , it said – and Holtzmann behind the general.

Erin knew why the general had brought the engineer along, to break her faster, she figured, to make her suffer with the simple knowledge that whatever they had done to Holtzmann had put her completely under his control; and the nasty glint in his eyes as he looked at her told her that she was right, and that he was enjoying this.

_No surprise he leads experiments like this,_ she found herself thinking, swallowing heavily, not sure what to expect, _sadist that he is._

“Dr Gilbert”, Nashton said, sounding all too jovial for the whole situation, “your gifts are very valuable, so we’ll take them first. After… juicing them up a bit.”

“What are you talking about”, Erin dared to ask, even though she wasn’t sure she wanted to know; Nashton just smiled at her, then nodded at one of the soldiers standing guard at the door, and he stepped outside – and when he came back in, and Erin saw what he was wheeling into the room, her eyes went wide and her heartrate spiked.

“No”, she brought out, her breath quickening as the machine was rolled to the side of the examination table, “no! You can’t do this!”

“We can, and we will”, the general responded, nodding at the man in the lab coat afterwards, “Dr Grant?”

“Experiments have shown that administering controlled electric shocks is very beneficial for the capacity of mutants gifted as you are”, lab coat guy said in a bored voice, unimpressed by how Erin cried out and tried to jerk her head away when he moved what looked like a sort of metal headband closer to her forehead, the general rolling his eyes – before he looked at Holtzmann, a cruel smirk curling his lips.

“X-19”, he said, and the way Holtzmann immediately snapped to attention made Erin’s panic even worse, “hold her down.”

“No!” Erin shrieked as the blonde walked to stand at the head end of the table, her touch rough and uncaring when she grabbed her at the jaw, forcing her to hold her head still, “no, Holtzmann, don’t do this, don’t let them do this, please, _please…_ ”

Her voice cracked as she started to cry, an incoherent noise of denial coming from her when the metal was strapped tight to her head; this had been done to her before, when she had been little, under the guise of therapy, and she remembered all too well how it had felt, still dreamed of it even now, decades later.

“Thank you”, Grant said once the straps had been tightened, clearly not caring the slightest about the tears and sobs from the helpless physicist, “we are almost ready.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a length of thick white cloth; knowing what this was for, Erin tried pleading once more, even though she knew it was useless, and her pleas were cut off harshly when he pushed the cloth between her teeth, making sure it sat firmly.

“Bite down on that”, he instructed, turning to the machine connected to the metal headband with a bunch of cables, Erin’s wide, panicked eyes meeting Holtzmann’s, the engineer still looking as unimpressed and oddly empty as she had the whole time, not reacting the slightest to the wordless sound of protest Erin let out around the gag.

Grant switched on the machine, and her crying increased as she knew what would come next; she pulled at the leather cuffs holding her down on the table, even though she knew it was useless… and over her own sobs and cries, she barely heard the somewhat surprised gurgling sound Nashton let out, followed by cries of shock from the guards and from Dr Grant.

The look of surprise on his face when he looked down at himself and saw the three sharp tips poke out of his chest was almost comical.

“But”, he said, as if he wanted to protest what just had happened; then Holtzmann pulled her hand back, the sharp blades glistening with blood, a shockingly thick torrent of blood gushed from his mouth, and he collapsed.

The whole thing had taken mere seconds, and the guards were still trying to aim their weapons when Holtzmann turned and went after them, clearly deciding that they were more of a danger than the scientist who stood next to the table, frozen in shock.

One of them managed to get his gun out, and to pull the trigger twice, then she cut him down where he stood; his companion fell a second later, and when she turned to look at Grant, the wild and feral rage in her eyes made Erin’s brief relief vanish into nothingness quickly.

“Stay back”, Grant yelped, hands raised as if in submission, “don’t you dare… you can’t! How! He said you’re under control you can’t!”

His voice had risen higher and higher, and was close to a shriek at the last two words; then, Holtzmann had caught up to him and stabbed him in the chest, letting out a low growl as he went down, staring at his twitching body for a few seconds, Erin, despite her panic, taking note of the soft _clink_ when the bullets which had hit the engineer fell back out and landed on the tiled floor.

Erin could see where the bullets had hit, there were holes in Holtzmann’s uniform and bloodstains on the fabric, even though she knew not all of that blood was from the blonde; and as the engineer approached her, claws still out and covered in blood, as well, her fear grew again.

_She has no idea,_ Erin still had time to think, _she has no idea who you are, she’s gone completely wild and now she’ll kill you, too…_

She squeezed her eyes shut as the claws came down, but there was no pain… and when she dared to open her eyes again, Holtzmann was just cutting the bonds around her ankles, her wrists already freed.

Hurriedly, Erin pulled the gag out of her mouth, then yanked the metal headband off, not caring that a few hairs went with it; she slid off the examination table and the world greyed around the edges, forcing her to grab the table so she wouldn’t fall, the fact that Holtzmann just stood there and watched as the redhead took a few deep, controlled breaths just another indicator that she wasn’t quite back to normal yet.

Finally, Erin dared to straighten up again, Holtzmann watching her every move, but making no movement to help; swallowing, and gagging at the iron smell of blood which was clouding the room by now, Erin walked over to where the blonde was standing, not sure if she should touch her, deciding against it after a moment, especially since the claws were still out, blood dripping from the glinting metal and to the floor.

“Thank you”, she said, keeping her hands to herself and figuring that gratitude would be a good start, “that was… just in time.”

She threw a look at the machine and wanted to throw up, then forced the memories out of her mind, telling herself she had other things to worry about now, and that there was no time to dwell on these dark times of her past.

“We have to find Abby and Patty”, she said, “and get out of here…”

Holtzmann gave no reaction, and didn’t move when Erin walked to the door; frowning, the physicist stopped and turned to look at her, and there was _something_ in Holtzmann’s eyes when their gazes met, something other than the animalistic wildness… and suddenly, Erin knew what was wrong, and what she would have to do made her heart clench up.

She knew that she had no choice though, and so, she took in a deep breath, hating herself, but telling herself she’d make it up to Holtzmann later; and she made sure that her voice was firm when she spoke up, despite how much the words hurt her.

“X-19”, she said, and immediately, Holtzmann snapped to attention, and Erin wanted to strangle the military people for doing this to her, for turning her into this mindless weapon, “I’ll need you to help me find Abby and Patty.”

_And kill anyone who tries to stop us._ She didn’t want to say this, didn’t want to force Holtzmann into murdering people like this, even if said people wanted them harm, but she knew she had to, if they wanted to make it out of this place alive – bullets didn’t seem to bother Holtzmann much, but one would be enough to kill her, and she wasn’t willing to sacrifice herself just so strangers who worked on projects as this one could live.

“And if anyone tries to stop us”, she said, deciding to not say it just as crass as she had thought it, “um… take them out.”

She figured that this would allow Holtzmann to knock them out instead of killing them, and perhaps, that was the better route to go; still the engineer kept her claws out as she strode to the door, moving with purpose now, sniffing audibly as she pulled the door open and glanced out into the hallway.

Apparently, there was no one there, and Erin allowed herself to hope that maybe, they’d get out of there without anymore bloodshed; she could harbour that hope for a few more seconds, then she heard voices at the other end of the hallway, and her heart sank.

Talking to each other, two soldiers rounded the corner, only to stop dead when they saw Holtzmann and her in front of the examination room; they caught on quickly to what had happened, one of them saying “Oh shit!” – and that was all he could say, as the blink of an eye later, Holtzmann took off and just ran at them, a move they clearly hadn’t expected, making the mistake of looking taking aback instead of reaching for their weapons.

Erin flinched when the engineer let out a roar, and at that sound, the soldiers realized their mistake; it was too late though as Holtzmann had closed the gap between them at this point, another roar coming from her as she sliced at the one closer to her and he fell, his buddy following suit a second later.

_You did this,_ a treacherous voice whispered to the physicist as she slowly moved to catch up to Holtzmann, hearing the low growls she let out with each breath, _you told her to take down anyone in your way and this is what she is doing. You made her do this._

She tried not to look at the dead eyes of the men as she stepped over their corpses and followed Holtzmann, the blonde clearly having an idea where Abby and Patty were kept; and at least for now, they ran into no one else, Erin figuring that this made sense – if the lab was so top secret, they wouldn’t want many people to know about it, not even many of their own people, and clearly, none of them had expected Holtzmann to turn on them and help her, so technically, not much security should have been needed in the first place.

The engineer pushed one door open and stepped through, leading Erin to another hallway; she walked to one of the heavy metal doors lining that hall, and took quick care of the key card lock by simply slicing it off, the door sliding open as sparks flew from the destroyed mechanism, Patty looking up in surprise, then delight from where she had been sitting on an uncomfortable looking cod.

“Holtzy!” she said in joy, her face falling a bit when Holtzmann showed no reaction to her though; Erin mumbled that she’d explain later, and just then, another one of the doors opened and a soldier stepped out, putting an empty syringe into his pocket, looking up at the low growl Holtzmann let out at the sight of him.

He reacted faster and better than his comrades, Erin had to give him that, having his gun out at once and emptying it; each bullet hit, but none of them slowed Holtzmann down, and he let out an awfully wet-sounding gurgle when she buried her blades in his chest all the way to her knuckles, retracting the claws once she had pulled them back out, signalling to Erin and Patty that the danger was, at least for now, over.

“Jesus”, Patty brought out in a weak, trembling voice; Erin could only nod while Holtzmann stepped into the cell the man just had come out of, then re-emerged with Abby in a fireman’s grip and stopped, looking at Erin again, clearly waiting for the next command now that she had done what she had been told back in the examination room.

“Get us out of here”, Erin told her, and in response, Holtzmann turned and led the way, Erin and Patty following suit, the physicist trying to keep down her guilt and her worries, asking herself how they should get her girlfriend back to normal – and what she would do if they wouldn’t be able to find a way.


	7. Chapter 7

Erin wasn’t surprised to find that Dr Gorin’s car was gone once they had made it out of the laboratory – thankfully without running into anyone else, and so, without any more people ending up stabbed or slashed to death – but still she was miffed about it; her suspicion that the elder woman had sold them out only grew at the fact that she was gone now, and she grit her teeth angrily, her anger only growing when Holtzmann stopped walking, having gotten them out as Erin had said and now waiting to be told what to do next.

“Looks like we have to walk back to the firehouse”, Patty said, eying Holtzmann as she stood there, not the slightest hint of recognition in the engineer’s gaze when their eyes met, “Erin, what’s going on with Holtzmann?”

“I’m not sure”, Erin sighed, taking a step closer to the blonde and daring to touch her arm; Holtzmann’s gaze moved to her, but she didn’t react in any way to the touch, neither positive nor with malevolence. She just looked at Erin for another second, then the strange emptiness returned to her eyes, making Erin’s heart clench up.

“They did… something to her”, she added, pulling her hand back and looking at Patty again, “to keep her under control I guess, so she wouldn’t end up running again like the last time they… got their hands on her.”

“I can’t believe they do such things”, Patty grumbled, “in this day and age! You’d think they’d know better than claim that we aren’t human!”

Erin nodded with a small sigh, then touched Holtzmann’s arm again, not wanting to refer to her as “X-19” in front of Patty, but realizing that perhaps, she had no other choice, since again, Holtzmann didn’t react the slightest, not even looking at her again this time.

“Holtzmann”, she still tried, not surprised at the continued lack of reaction, but it still made her heart clench up, “Holtz? …Jillian?”

Not even her rarely used first name got a reaction, and Patty started to look more and more concerned; and even though it hurt her, and made her feel terrible, Erin was all too aware that there was nothing else she could do, and took in a deep breath, steeling herself for what she had to say.

“X-19”, she said, trying hard to sound firm again, and giving her best to not flinch at the startled look Patty gave her, “I, um, I’ll need you to carry Abby and follow us. Back to the firehouse. Okay?”

“What the Hell did they do to you, babygirl”, Patty said when Holtzmann reacted by trudging along behind Erin as the physicist started to lead the way; Erin’s heart clenched up at the pain in Patty’s voice, and her own trembled when she was the one to answer, not even quite sure if Holtzmann was actually capable of speech at this point.

“We’ll figure out what they did, and how to reverse it”, she said, “but for now, we just have to work with what we have… and she only seems to react when you call her… that so…”

“This is so messed up”, Patty grumbled, looking at the engineer with worry and sympathy, “man, poor Holtzy… But you’re right, we’ll figure something out.”

Bravely, Erin nodded, then they both fell silent as they walked; it was quite the distance back to the firehouse, but Holtzmann clearly had no trouble carrying the still unconscious Abby, not even breathing heavier as she walked along behind Erin, the physicist letting her mind wander as she tried to figure out what had been done to the engineer and how they could make it undone again.

* * *

“Urch”, Abby let out as she opened her eyes, momentarily disoriented, then realizing that she was being oddly bounced up and down, her already nauseous stomach turning at the motion, “what… guys? Eurch I feel dreadful…”

The bouncing stopped, and belatedly, she realized that she was being carried by someone – someone wearing military green, and fear gripped her heart, even though it vanished again when she heard Erin say “Abby?” next, a commanding tone in the redhead’s voice when she then told someone apparently named X-19 to carefully put her down.

“Glad you’re back”, Erin said once Abby was sitting on the floor, her head pounding and her stomach still uneasy, the researcher feeling even more confused when she saw that it had been Holtzmann who’d been carrying her, finding herself wondering why Erin would call her girlfriend that weird name and why Holtzmann was wearing a uniform, “how are you feeling?”

“As if I drank tequila all night”, Abby groaned, rubbing her head, “what happened? The last thing I remember is how we entered that lab…”

“It was a trap”, Erin sighed, “they knocked you out with some sort of drug so you couldn’t teleport away and locked Patty and you up in cells. They were about to… do something to me when Holtzmann… I don’t know, snapped out of their control, um, took care of them, and freed me. We got the two of you out and here we are.”

“Oh Christ”, Abby said, realizing belatedly what the bullet holes and the blood on Holtzmann’s uniform and hands meant; and she suddenly knew that the blood wasn’t just Holtzmann’s, her stomach turning again as she thought of the number of men she had seen before she had been knocked out, unable to keep herself from wondering if all of them were dead.

“Abby”, Erin said, the tremble in her voice making Abby wonder if her best friend had read her mind or had been able to tell what she was thinking just from the look on her face, “we had no choice.”

“…I know”, Abby made herself agree, swaying a bit as she came to her feet, “these guys would have… done God knows what to us, and after what they did to Holtz… What’s wrong with her? Why is she just standing there?”

“We’re not sure”, Patty was the one to answer that, while Erin put one arm around Abby’s waist to steady her, the researcher looking a bit unsure on her feet, “she’s still sort of… under control, but apparently she listens to Erin now instead of that creepy general dude. She’s not listening to me though, we tried.”

“It’s not far to the firehouse anymore”, Erin added as they got walking again, the three of them glad that it was late at night and that nobody who’d just pass them on the sidewalk and wouldn’t take a closer look would notice the bloodstains on Holtzmann’s clothes – and if they did, she reasoned, they could claim they were from a bust, they were the Ghostbusters after all and it wouldn’t be the first time that one of them had gotten hurt on the job, “once we’re there, we should get some rest and then figure out tomorrow what they did to Holtzmann and how to undo it…”

“What a mess”, Abby groaned, leaning heavily on Erin, glad that it indeed wasn’t far to walk anymore, “we really need to figure out how to stop ghosts from possessing us, if that ghost hadn’t gotten into Holtzmann, none of this would have happened.”

“And that ghost is still out there somewhere”, Erin belatedly realized, with another concerned look at Holtzmann, “well, at least it’s not possessing an indestructible woman with built-in knives anymore but…”

“But it can still do some damage”, Abby finished for her, Patty giving them both uneasy looks, “we better figure out what happened to Holtz and how do undo it quickly, we’re gonna need her to fight this ghost…”

Erin nodded, and, sensing how hard the physicist was struggling to keep it together and not break down at what was happening to her girlfriend, Abby reached out and briefly touched her shoulder; Erin weakly smiled back at her, then the firehouse appeared up ahead, and all at once, the redhead felt bone-weary, just wanting to get some sleep, even though she already feared that nightmares would wake her up again after mere hours.

She looked forward to sleep nonetheless, feeling exhausted and knowing her body needed the rest… then she saw the car parked in front of the firehouse, and all tiredness was forgotten as anger flashed up in her eyes and she grit her teeth.

“Isn’t that…”, Patty started, frowning, as well; Erin nodded, her anger giving her fresh energy as she sped up, her rage clearly showing through her voice when she answered the unasked question.

“Dr Gorin’s car”, she confirmed, Abby mimicking Patty’s frown, “first she sells us out and now she’s here? Probably wants to steal our research or something.”

The group reached the firehouse, and Erin pushed the door open, glaring around as she practically stomped into the lobby; said lobby was empty, but they all heard noises from their office space, and Erin’s anger grew as she hurriedly made her way there, Holtzmann right behind her, Abby and Patty behind the blonde, the engineer being the only one who did not look angry or annoyed when they found Dr Gorin at Erin’s desk, looking at one of her notebooks.

“You!” Erin said accusingly as the elder woman looked up at them in surprise, the physicist too angry to recognize the emotion which showed through Dr Gorin’s features moments later, “you sold us out!”

“Dr Gilbert—”, Gorin had time to say, then Holtzmann was walking past Erin without slowing or hesitating, the elder woman letting out a yelp of surprise and dismay when the engineer grabbed her and effortlessly slammed her down onto the desk, and after a second of struggling, the scientist went very still when she felt cold metal against her throat.

“Dr Gilbert”, she croaked, momentarily surprising Erin by not addressing Holtzmann, but speaking to her instead, and making her wonder how much Gorin knew about the state Holtzmann was in, “I did not sell you out. I can explain, please tell Jillian to let me get back up.”

“Explain first”, Erin coldly replied, ignoring the surprised look Abby shot her and the look of concern from Patty, both of them not used to having her act like this, so callous and uncaring, “and if you explain what happened well enough, I’ll tell her to let go of you.”

“I did not sell you out”, Dr Gorin replied, her voice remarkably steady even though Holtzmann still was pinning her to the table and had the claws of one hand pressed against her throat, “my contact, he knew, about all of you. Don’t ask me how. He knew I would forward the information to you, so he played the leak and told me about Jillian, they knew you would try to get her out.”

“That general guy did say that they want to take something from us”, Patty remembered, making Erin nod as she had thought back to those words from Nashton, as well, “oh Christ, imagine they found some way to take our powers. Holtzy would have been unstoppable, an indestructible soldier who can teleport, read minds and drain others by touching them…”

“…fine”, Erin said after thinking about this for a second, and about what Gorin had said; in the end, it was the woman’s calm which convinced her, “X-19? You can let her get back up.”

Immediately, Holtzmann let go of the elder woman and took a step back, the scientist straightening up and clearing her throat while the engineer retracted the claws, then moved to stand next to Erin, clasping her hands behind her back again, Gorin watching the little display in silence while Erin blushed, inexplicably feeling as if it was her fault that Holtzmann was behaving that way.

“Well”, Dr Gorin said, eying the couple, “it seems that there’s… enough of Jillian left that she remembers who you are, Dr Gilbert. That is something we can work with, I imagine.”

“Do you know what they did to her?” Abby wanted to know, not quite sure yet if she could believe that Gorin had had nothing to do with their capture, but having to admit that her explanation had made perfect sense, her heart sinking when the scientist shook her head.

“There’s several options”, Dr Gorin then said, “to gain this level of control over her, especially considering how strong-willed Jillian is on a regular day. If you’ll let me help, I will examine her tomorrow, and help in any way I can.”

“You will do this here”, Erin replied, still not trusting the woman fully, despite her good explanation, “and you will not be alone with her. If you try anything, I’ll tell her to knock you into the next weekend, and you know she’ll do it.”

“Right now, she’d set herself on fire if you told her to”, Dr Gorin replied dryly, “but if you’re not sure I’m the telling the truth, why don’t you take a peek into my mind?”

“You obviously have experience with mutants”, Erin shot back at once, having thought of this, as well, “you’d just make sure I don’t see anything you don’t want me to see. Like Abby with her brick wall when she doesn’t want me to know what she’s thinking.”

“I did not consider that”, Dr Gorin had to admit, “good point. Alright, I can’t argue with your terms, and they are reasonable, down to the have Jillian knock me into the next weekend, as you put it. I will be back tomorrow with some equipment, then, I imagine you can all need some rest.”

She gave them a tight smile, but Erin saw the flash of pain in her eyes when she looked at Holtzmann as she walked past them; and this brief display of emotion convinced her that the scientist had told the truth when she had let them know that she’d had nothing to do with them getting captured.

“Dr Gorin”, she thus called out, making her stop and turn; holding her gaze, Erin tried to show that there were no hard feelings and that she believed her now, giving her best to sound genuinely kind when she went on, “thank you. For your help.”

“I’d do anything for Jillian”, Gorin replied, still in that dry tone, not quite matching the heartfelt quality of her words; Erin just nodded, and the scientist gave her another brief smile before she finally turned and left, gently closing the door behind herself while Erin asked Holtzmann to follow her upstairs, tired again now that they finally were safe again.


	8. Chapter 8

All Erin wanted to do was lie down and sleep, but one look at Holtzmann told her that she had to at least clean up before they could get some rest – not only was there dried blood on her hands, but on her upper body and thighs, too, and even though she was tired, Erin didn’t want to let Holtzmann go to sleep looking like this.

The engineer seemed somewhat relaxed at this point, making Erin wonder if part of her was aware where she was and that she had realized that at least for now, she was safe; and so, Erin didn’t try to verbally command her this time, but took tender hold of her hand instead, glad when no negative reaction came to the touch.

She felt even better about the whole situation when she tugged a bit, and Holtzmann walked with her willingly; once in the bathroom, Erin didn’t bother telling her to take off her clothes, but undressed her, doing so quickly and efficiently, smiling wryly to herself as she thought of the last time she had taken Holtzmann’s clothes off.

It had been much more pleasant circumstances, and Holtzmann had responded much more positive, as well; she had kissed her, Erin remembered, and had been quite eager to get the redhead out of her clothes, too, an unsettling difference to her reaction now, the engineer just standing there as Erin removed her uniform, then her underwear, throwing the bloodstained clothes to the ground, figuring that they’d go right into the trash once they had cleaned up.

Once Holtzmann was naked, Erin undressed as well, then gently got the engineer to step into the shower with her; again, Holtzmann just stood there, and for the first time since the blonde had cut down the men in the examination room, Erin allowed herself to really think about what had happened while she soaped up a washcloth, tears stinging in her eyes all at once.

Here they were, she bitterly thought to herself, just as they had been before the invisible ghost had attacked and all had gone to Hell; not much time had passed in between these two occasions, but still things were so different now, and for the first time since she had seen Holtzmann like this, she had to admit to herself that perhaps, there might not be a way to fix the engineer.

“I wish you could tell me what they did to you”, she whispered as she washed the younger woman down, cleaning all the blood off her skin, “just so I’ll know if there’s a chance to make it undone…”

_You’re a mind reader_ , she realized a second later, her eyes briefly widening, _maybe she can’t tell you what they did, but you can take a look and find out._

It shouldn’t surprise her, Erin pondered, that she hadn’t thought of this sooner – for years, she had repressed her powers, had hidden them from everyone, and only had begun using them more when the Ghostbusters had begun working together, so it probably wasn’t strange that it had taken her until now to think of the possibility… and she wasn’t fully sure she wanted to make use of it, either, wondering if it’d be just another violation Holtzmann would have to go through, this time at her hands and not at those of the military goons.

On the other hand though, she had to admit to herself that this might be the only way to find out how to help the blonde; and so, Erin made up her mind, telling herself that she could do this and that she would do it, for Holtzmann and to help her get better.

Feeling a bit better now that she had an idea which might be helpful for their predicament, Erin finished washing Holtzmann down, then took care of her own hygiene; and once they both were clean, she got the engineer to step out of the tub with her, towelling her dry before she handed fresh, comfortable clothes to her for sleeping, glad when the blonde put them on without any need of assistance.

“Okay”, Erin said once they both were ready for bed, “um, before we go to sleep, I’d like to try… looking into your mind. Maybe that will be useful to figure out how we can help you…”

She kept a close eye on Holtzmann as she spoke, looking for a reaction; the blonde looked back at her impassively, neither agreeing, nor letting it show if she didn’t like the idea, and after a few moments of just holding her gaze, and fruitless search for any sort of emotion, Erin figured that it was okay, telling herself that, if Holtzmann was herself, it was what she would want her to do.

Taking in a deep breath, Erin tried to empty her mind, to open herself to Holtzmann’s thoughts and memories; slowly, not wanting to startle the engineer, she reached up and gently placed her fingers on the other woman’s temples, closing her eyes as she concentrated.

For a while, nothing happened, and Erin started to worry that so much damage had been done to Holtzmann’s brain that there was nothing left to pick up; and just when she was about to give up, the images slammed into her mind, painful and with startling clarity, so unexpected and accompanied by such hurt that it took her breath away—

_—and she has never known such pain, not even having them put the metal on her bones hurt so much, she strains against the cold chains but it’s of no use, her strength doesn’t help and her claws don’t help and they cut her open and keep the wound open and there’s a flash of white and she’s gone_

The connection was severed abruptly, sending another flash of pain through Erin’s head, and she staggered; she heard a strangled noise from Holtzmann and blinked the tears out of her eyes, her sight clearing just in time to let her see how the engineer dropped to her knees, pressing both hands against her head as she let out an unarticulated scream.

“Holtz”, Erin brought out, trying to ignore the raging pain in her head as she knelt down next to the engineer; she reached out and touched her shoulder, and when Holtzmann’s head snapped up and Erin saw the look in her eyes, she realized what a mistake she just had made.

“Holtz…!”, she just had time to say, her eyes going wide – then Holtzmann pounced her and threw her over, unimpressed by the strangled whimper Erin let out when she heard the by now familiar sound of her claws popping out, the metal cold against the sides of her throat moments later, practically pinning her to the bathroom floor.

She heard the bathroom door fly open, but didn’t dare to turn her head, knowing she’d end up getting cut by the almost absurdly sharp blades; instead, she gave her best to lie perfectly still while Holtzmann let out a low growl, bringing her free hand up, both Abby and Patty freezing when the claws slid out slowly and somewhat threateningly this time, even though they were far from close enough to be in real danger.

“Holtzy”, Patty was the first to regain her ability to speak, successfully keeping the tremble out of her voice, “it’s okay, it’s just us, babygirl. And Erin, you don’t want to hurt Erin, you know that.”

Erin noticed the look of concentration on Abby’s face while Patty was talking – distracting – just a second too late, and couldn’t call out in time; Abby vanished in a puff of blue and black smoke, appeared right next to her and grabbed her arm, using their connection to teleport her out of the danger zone – and while Holtzmann was distracted by that happening, Patty rushed the engineer, pulling off her glove as she closed the short distance between them, her bare hand clamping down on the blonde’s wrist.

“No!” Erin cried out as Patty’s eyes were filled with an eerie white glow, one of the signs of her power kicking in, “don’t hurt her, it’s not her fault!”

She struggled against Abby’s grip, but the researcher wouldn’t let go of her, only holding her tighter; Erin’s free hand came up to cover her mouth when Holtzmann, with another growl, brought her free arm back to swipe at Patty, but the historian was using her power with full force, and while Holtzmann was still moving, Patty pretty much drained enough of her energy to incapacitate her, the blonde’s body going slack as she slumped down to the floor.

The claws slowly slid back into her hands as her muscle went slack, and Abby let go of the physicist; without another word, Erin rushed to where Holtzmann laid and knelt down next to her, glaring at her friends afterwards, her anger nearly making her voice crack.

“Are you insane?!” she demanded to know, once she could be sure the engineer was still breathing, her slow and calm breaths showing she was out cold, “hasn’t she been through enough?! Now her friends go after her, too?!”

“She cut you”, Abby calmly replied, and Erin just opened her mouth to protest this, incredulous – when she felt the sting at her throat, and, startled, reach to touch the sensitive skin, shocked when her fingers came away coated in red.

Finding it hard to believe that Holtzmann actually had done this, Erin came to her feet and moved to the bathroom mirror; the cut wasn’t bad, neither deep nor long, but bad enough that blood had trickled down her throat and was drying on the skin there and the collar of the shirt she had pulled on for sleep.

“She didn’t mean to, I know she didn’t”, she mumbled, briefly touching the cut again and wincing at the brief flash of pain, “it was an accident, she wouldn’t hurt me… Abby, Patty, it’s not her fault! She was freaking out because I was looking into her mind to see what they did to her, it’s not her fault!”

“I believe you”, Abby reassured her, looking pained, making it clear that she didn’t like what she had to say next, either, “but as long as she’s like that… Erin, she’s too dangerous. What if we hadn’t heard her scream? She could have killed you!”

“So what do you suggest”, Erin demanded to know, even though she was sure she wouldn’t like the answer, “that we lock her up like some sort of animal? Treat her like they did?”

“We have to”, Patty was the one to answer that, earning a look of disbelief from the physicist, “I got a cousin who’s on the force, she can lend us some handcuffs.”

“No”, Erin gave back at once, unable to believe they were seriously considering this, “no! We’re not going to do this to her!”

“Erin, we have no choice”, Abby told her, with a pained look at the engineer’s lifeless body, “and you know it. Patty, make the call.”

Erin just stared at her for a few more seconds, then turned and left the room without another word; dismayed, Abby looked after her, didn’t stop Patty though when the taller woman dug out her phone, knowing that it had to be done and that at least at the moment, Holtzmann was too dangerous for all of them, hoping that the whole situation could be resolved soon and that she hadn’t just done irreparable damage to the friendship between Erin and herself.

* * *

Even though she was against the idea, Erin made herself be there when they did what they had to do; Patty’s cousin had brought two pairs of police handcuffs, without asking any questions, and now, Abby and Patty were using said handcuffs to chain the engineer’s wrists and ankles to the metal frame of her bed, making sure to position the cuffs so that she wouldn’t be able to use her claws to free herself.

Erin felt like crying as she watched, but bravely held the tears back; Abby gave her an apologetic look as she walked past her out the room, and Patty couldn’t even look her in the eye, but neither of them made a move to reverse their decision, and not long after Holtzmann had been chained down, Erin was alone in the bedroom with her, her heart heavy when she moved to sit down next to the bed.

“I’m sorry”, she softly said, reaching out to touch Holtzmann’s hand, “tomorrow, when Dr Gorin comes here, we’ll figure out a way to fix this, I promise. And then you’ll come back to me, alright?”

She thought back to what she had seen in Holtzmann’s mind before the engineer had freaked out, and her heart clenched up; a few tears did fall then, but now that she was alone with the engineer, she didn’t bother holding them back anymore, holding on to her bare forearm – holding her hand, she had to admit to herself, probably was too dangerous at this point – as she waited for her to come back around, not sure if she’d ever be able to forgive herself for letting her friends do this to the blonde.


	9. Chapter 9

Erin wasn’t quite sure when she had fallen asleep, but as it was still dark outside when she got torn out of her slumber again, she figured she hadn’t been sleeping for long; for a moment, she wasn’t sure why she had woken up… before she heard the soft groan from the bed, and was wide awake within seconds.

She had heard Holtzmann make such sounds before, when she’d had nightmares of the things the military had done to her; one look showed her though that the engineer wasn’t trapped in a bad dream this time, wide blue eyes meeting hers when she looked at the blonde, so full with fear that it made Erin’s heart clench up.

_At first she freaked out because of what I saw in her mind, and now she wakes up chained to a bed_ , the physicist had to realize, feeling bad again for not having stopped this from happening, _and who knows how aware she is, she might not even know where she is and that she’s still safe…_

“Holtz”, she hurriedly said, bending over the engineer so Holtzmann could see her face, “it’s okay, you’re safe. This is just… for your own safety, okay? And it won’t be for long, I promise.”

Holtzmann groaned again in response, making her wonder once more if she actually was capable of talking or if the military had done something to her to take her speech away – _and why wouldn’t they_ , she sourly thought to herself, trying to keep the emotion from showing through her features, not wanting Holtzmann to think it was directed at her, _if they just wanted her to be a mindless killing machine, they don’t need her to speak_ – and the sound made her heart break.

“It’s okay”, she said again, not sure what else she could say or do to make this better; slowly, not wanting to startle the engineer, Erin reached out and started caressing her hair, feeling marginally better when some of the fear vanished from Holtzmann’s gaze after she had done so for a minute or so.

“I’m sorry”, she said, “that this had to be done, but… I’m not sure you remember Holtz, but after what happened…”

Holtzmann’s gaze dropped to her throat, and belatedly, Erin realized that she hadn’t taken care of the cut or even washed off the blood; and perhaps, she thought to herself, there wasn’t much of the Holtzmann she’d known left, for the moment, but she wasn’t completely gone, either, something Erin could easily tell from the pain she saw in the other woman’s gaze as the engineer studied the wound she had inflicted on her.

“That wasn’t your fault”, she said at once, Holtzmann’s eyes coming up again to meet hers, “it was an accident. Don’t feel bad, okay?”

At least, she thought to herself, Holtzmann didn’t look as freaked out anymore as she had when the redhead had been woken up by her groans; she still looked frightened though, and tugged at the cuffs binding her hands to the bedframe above her head, Erin quickly shaking her head at the movement.

“Don’t”, she then advised, still caressing the engineer’s hair, since that seemed to calm her down, “you’ll hurt yourself… which then would heal right away. But still, don’t do that, okay? It won’t be like this for long, Dr Gorin will come here tomorrow… later today… and we’ll figure out how to… fix this.”

Eager to calm Holtzmann down further, she moved to lie down next to her, and carefully put one arm around her; with the blonde’s wrists and ankles chained to the frame, it made snuggling a bit awkward, but she could feel Holtzmann relax almost at once, and smiled as she rested her head on the blonde’s shoulder.

“You’ll be okay”, she mumbled, moving one hand to rub the other woman’s belly, aware that Holtzmann had always enjoyed that before the military had done God knew what to her; and not much later, the engineer’s breath slowed down as she drifted off into sleep, Erin waiting until she could be sure that Holtzmann was fast asleep before she allowed herself to drift off again, as well.

Seconds before she fell asleep, she realized that this time, Holtzmann had reacted to her name.

* * *

In the next morning, Erin woke up to voices coming from downstairs, at first not sure if her ears had picked them up or her mind; Holtzmann was still fast asleep, her restricted movement clearly not having kept her awake, even though her eyes opened the moment Erin got out of bed.

“I think Dr Gorin is here”, she said, “I, um, I’ll get the keys to these cuffs from Patty, ok?”

Holtzmann didn’t truly react to her words, but at least, she didn’t try to break free, either; Erin gave her a calming smile, briefly touching her forearm, before she told her she’d be right back and left the room, not surprised, but relieved to find Abby, Patty and Dr Gorin downstairs.

“Dr Gilbert”, the elder woman greeted her, “I heard there was an incident yesterday. How is Jillian now?”

“Calm”, Erin replied, with a pointed look at the other two, feeling darkly satisfied when Abby blushed visibly and Patty looked quite ashamed, “stiff, probably, after sleeping like that. Patty? The keys?”

She almost expected Patty to have some excuse about not handing them over, but to her relief, the historian dug them out of her pocket at once and gave them to the physicist; Erin let them know she’d be right back, then went to get the engineer, smiling at her as she entered the bedroom.

“There we go”, said as she unlocked the cuffs around the blonde’s ankles first, then freed her wrists, “Dr Gorin’s downstairs, we’ll hopefully figure out today how to fix what those bastards did to you.”

She took hold of Holtzmann’s hand and led her downstairs, glad that the blonde was walking with her without the need of a verbal command; Abby and Patty looked quite relieved when the physicist and the engineer joined them downstairs, Dr Gorin taking a close look at the blonde before she spoke up.

“As I said yesterday”, she began, making them all look at her, “there are several ways how they could have gained this level of control. Once we know what they did, we can work on finding… a cure, for lack of a better word.”

“I know what they did”, Erin gave back, earning surprised looks from Abby and Patty, and shrugging in response to them.

“What?” she then said, a bit defensive, “you were so quick to make sure Holtz can’t hurt anyone, I had no chance to tell you.”

“What was it?” Gorin wanted to know, before this could turn into some sort of argument; feeling uneasy again after what she had seen, Erin swallowed, then responded, her voice soft, but still audible enough, Abby paling visibly at her words.

“They… did something to her brain”, she said, “I’m not quite sure what, I saw it in Holtz’ memories and she was in too much pain and too scared to truly notice. But they had cut her open, at the back of her head, and did something to her brain, there was a flash of white…"

“Dammit”, Gorin swore, making them look at her in surprise, and she rolled her eyes as she went on, “do you people not realize what this means? The metal which covers her bones, it’s indestructible, so they must have had instruments made of exactly the same metal to get at her brain, or they never would have gotten through her skull.”

“So we have to get at their stuff”, Abby concluded, making Erin and Patty nod, “it hasn’t been that long since we hit their lab, if we go there again right away, we might get lucky and find something useful. Especially if nobody had any time to get out an alarm.”

“I don’t think they did”, Erin said, grimacing as she thought back to how fast Holtzmann had taken the soldiers down, “and it’s the only chance we have right now, so…”

“We’ll go there and check”, Patty offered, “I don’t think it’d be a good idea to bring Holtzy back there, after all the shit they did to her there.”

“I’ll stay here with her”, the physicist said, making the others nod, Gorin speaking up next.

“And I’ll head back to my lab and get what we need for the surgery”, she said, Erin’s stomach turning as she realized that they would have to cut Holtzmann open, “we’ll meet back here?”

They all nodded their agreement, Abby, Patty and Gorin leaving together afterwards while Erin and Holtzmann were left behind at the firehouse; the engineer seemed calm enough, either not realizing what would be done soon or not caring, Erin deciding that she might as well make breakfast for Holtzmann and herself, realizing how hungry she was.

She led the way, Holtzmann following her into the kitchen without having to be told; this made Erin wonder if somehow, the engineer as getting past the little piece of tech the military had used to keep her under control, and if perhaps, she’d be able to break free from the device’s effect on her own sooner or later, without the need of surgery, only to grimace as she realized that this might happen at some point, but might take much longer than any of them could anticipate.

_And she doesn’t deserve that,_ Erin told herself as she readied the coffee machine, Holtzmann standing nearby with her hands clasped behind her back again and watching her every move, Erin feeling a bit weird at being stared at like this, but figuring that it would be okay – the engineer was still calm, after all, and perhaps, Erin reasoned, with the way Holtzmann was taking orders from her and no one else, she saw her as her charge now, and thought that she had to protect her, telling herself that things certainly could have turned out much worse, especially after the way the engineer had freaked out the previous night.

She also found herself wondering how Holtzmann would react, once the technology in her brain had been removed and she was herself again, how much Holtzmann would remember of what had happened; as if the things the military had done to her – _again,_ Erin sourly thought to herself, _those bastards_ – hadn’t been enough, Holtzmann had killed a bunch of people in what Erin could only describe as cold blood, and she simply knew that the engineer wouldn’t take this as easy as she had when she had actually done it, once she’d be back to normal.

“It’s all going to be okay, you know”, she said out loud, not sure whom she was trying to convince, the rather impassive Holtzmann or herself, “no matter what happens when you come back to normal, we’ll handle it. I promise.”

She smiled bravely at the blonde, and tried to not let it hurt her when Holtzmann didn’t smile back; getting done with prepping the coffee machine, Erin then moved to the fridge while the coffee ran through, figuring that ham and eggs would be a good idea, only to belatedly realize that it might be a bad idea for Holtzmann to eat anything if Dr Gorin was going to perform brain surgery on her not too long from now.

Telling herself that it’d be mean to eat while Holtzmann couldn’t, Erin thus decided that filling her stomach could wait; and even though she feared she wouldn’t get much work done as long as Holtzmann was in this weird controlled state, she figured it would be worth a try, just to pass the time until the others would be back, and thus made her way to her desk once she had helped herself to a cup of coffee, Holtzmann following her again and standing behind her as she worked, staring straight ahead with an oddly empty look in her eyes while Erin counted the minutes until the others would be back.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a biiiit graphic (surgery and all), but nothing too bad I think / hope?

A while later, they all had assembled at the firehouse again, and Dr Gorin was looking at the tools Abby and Patty had brought; Erin felt sick at some of them, especially at what appeared to be a small circular saw and the number of sharp scalpels, but knew that they didn’t truly have a choice, not if they wanted to get their Holtzmann back.

“I can work with this”, Dr Gorin said, distracting her from her dismay, “good work, Dr Yates and Miss Tolan. I will need one of you to assist me, I suggest that you, Dr Gilbert, do so.”

Erin paled visibly at that, and almost asked why her, of all people; apparently though, she didn’t need to ask, one look at her face being enough to make Gorin answer her without the physicist having said a single word.

“Having you there might serve to calm Jillian down”, the elder woman said, and Erin had to admit that this was a good point, “her healing makes it impossible to knock her out with standard anaesthetics, and we don’t have what they might have used at their secret lab. If they used anything, and judging from what you saw in her mind, they didn’t.”

“Oh God”, Erin brought out, the thought of these people cutting Holtzmann open while she was fully conscious and aware, cutting into her head and her brain, making her stomach turn; Gorin gave her a sympathetic look, clearly aware what she was thinking of, but knowing that there was no other way, not if they wanted to get Holtzmann back to normal.

“I’ll do it”, the physicist added after a second, realizing that Gorin was right, “I can’t promise that I won’t throw up or even faint, but I’ll do it.”

Gorin gave a brief nod, then suggested going up to the second floor, figuring that one of the workbenches up there could be used as an impromptu operation table; and while she readied everything, Erin quietly talked to Holtzmann, the engineer looking rather unimpressed, but Erin knew how fast this could change, how quickly she could go wild and attack her or anyone else she’d deem a danger.

“You’ll be okay, I know you will be”, Erin said, tenderly rubbing Holtzmann’s arm, “you just have to stay strong through this, alright? And once Dr Gorin took care of your brain, you’ll be back with me, you’ll be my Holtz again…”

She tenderly kissed Holtzmann on the forehead, trying hard to not let it hurt her when the engineer didn’t react the slightest; then, she took in a deep breath and led her to the table, not liking what they would have to do, but knowing it had to be done.

“We only do this to help you, alright”, she mumbled, rubbing the younger woman’s back while Gorin cuffed her left wrist to the table, both of them glad when Holtzmann simply let this happen; she kept murmuring soothing words to her while Gorin did the same with the engineer’s right wrist, then pulled on a surgical gown and mask while Erin placed one hand on the blonde’s bare forearm.

She didn’t dare hold her hand, all too aware that the claws might make an appearance once Gorin would start her work, and the last thing she needed was three blades through her palm or even losing a finger or two; and so, she made sure to keep a safe distance to Holtzmann’s hands, swallowing heavily when, after getting the engineer’s hair out of the way, Gorin reached for the little circular bone saw.

“Let’s hope this works”, the elder woman commented as she switched it on, Erin grimacing at the high whirring sound it made, “because if it doesn’t, I really don’t know how we are going to solve this.”

She lowered the saw, and at first, blood trickled down, then sparks flew as the saw hit metal, Holtzmann letting out a guttural grunt, Erin feeling her muscles twitch beneath her hand, and hurriedly speaking to her again in an attempt to keep her calm.

“Almost through”, Gorin mumbled, making Erin wonder why she felt the need to keep her updated; the saw sounded as if it would give up the ghost any moment, but apparently, it worked long enough, Gorin switching it off after a short while and using clamps she had readied to keep the wound open.

At this point, Erin made the mistake to look, and her stomach turned as her gaze fell on the exposed brain of her partner; and as if she had sensed that she would be needed, Abby appeared out of thin air next to her and held out a trashcan, Dr Gorin raising an eyebrow, her hands steady though as she slowly moved a long, thin tool into the soft tissue of the engineer’s brain.

“If you have to throw up”, she said, never looking away from her task, “please do aim for the trashcan, and try not to get any on Jillian’s brain.”

“Oh God”, Erin let out, losing the brief battle against her stomach; she turned away from the table and threw up, thankfully managing to aim for the trashcan indeed, Abby rubbing her back soothingly while Gorin was fully focused on the surgery again.

“So skittish”, she still commented, then fell silent again; feeling embarrassed, Erin blushed as she put the trashcan aside, only to feel alarmed moments later as she looked at Holtzmann and saw that the engineer’s eyes were halfway closed and her face had gone slack, drool trickling from the corner of her mouth onto the workbench.

“Um, is this normal?” she asked, “she looks as if… as if she had a stroke, or something…”

“I’m poking around in her brain”, Gorin dryly replied, making Erin’s stomach turn again, “there might be some odd reactions. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she started to talk gibberish.”

Erin wasn’t fully convinced, but figured that the woman knew what she was talking about; and so, she soothingly rubbed Holtzmann’s arm as the scientist continued her slow, careful search for the object which kept the engineer under control, pushing the tool farther into the soft tissue, Holtzmann’s fingers twitching, followed by a strange “hurrgh” sound coming from her when Gorin apparently made contact with something in her brain.

“Co”, the engineer then let out, eyes rolling in their sockets, Erin feeling disconcerted at witnessing this, but telling herself that Gorin knew what she was doing and that any damage the elder woman might end up doing certainly would be taken care of by Holtzmann’s healing, her heart clenching up when the blonde went on, sounding oddly slurred. “Smell. Like. Coconut.”

“Does this mean something to you?” Gorin wanted to know, keeping her gaze focused on her work; Erin had to swallow heavily before she could respond, and when she did, the scientist looked somewhat pleased at her words.

“It was the first thing Holtzmann said to me”, the physicist told her, “when we met, back at the lab at Higgins.”

“That is good, then”, Gorin said, making Erin look at her questioningly, a look the scientist missed though as she kept her gaze focused on the engineer’s brain, “we are getting close to what it suppressing her personality, for lack of a better word, if she remembers this.”

She frowned in concentration as she angled the tool a bit, while Erin kept rubbing Holtzmann’s arm and mumbled soothing words to her; and a short while later, Gorin gave a brief, tight smile, glancing at the physicist as she broke the silence once more.

“I think I got it”, she let the younger woman know, “make sure to keep her calm now, this is going to hurt.”

She started to pull the tool back, and Holtzmann let out a yelp; Erin felt her arm tense beneath her palm, then her claws shot out, and hurriedly, the physicist rubbed her arm again and mumbled soothing words to her, her heart clenching up at the drawn-out groan Holtzmann let out as Gorin kept pulling, her groan turning into a yelp when the tool finally slid out all the way, Erin feeling sick when she saw the tiny microchip the scientist had removed from her partner’s brain.

Quickly, Gorin let the tool drop to the workbench, then removed the clamps which had kept the wound open; and immediately, the engineer’s healing kicked in, the stream of blood slowing, then stopping as the injury closed, while Holtzmann let out a low sigh, her claws slowly sliding back into her arms.

Not sure what to expect, Erin kept rubbing her arm, wanting to ask her if she was fine, if she was _back_ ; all at once, she was afraid of the answer though, and while she still tried to find the courage to say something, anything, Holtzmann’s eyes met hers, and the engineer managed a weak smile.

“You still smell like coconut”, she then said, and before she could stop herself, Erin burst into tears, awkwardly hugging her while Dr Gorin discreetly retreated, giving them some time alone.

Realizing that Holtzmann couldn’t hug her back as long as she was chained to the workbench, Erin forced herself to pull back from the clumsy embrace, quickly finding the key to the cuffs and unlocking them; slowly and carefully, Holtzmann turned onto her back, then sat up, and the moment she was upright, Erin moved to hug her tight again, burying her face in the other woman’s shoulder, fighting back fresh tears when she felt Holtzmann rub her back.

“You’re back”, she brought out, pulling back enough from the embrace so she could look Holtzmann in the face, “I was so afraid you’d stay like this forever…”

She reached up to gently trail her fingertips down Holtzmann’s face, as if to reassure herself that this was real, that it was truly happening and that Holtzmann was back indeed; and then, she pulled her closer again for a kiss which quickly deepened, knowing she’d be forever grateful to Dr Gorin for bringing her lover back to her.

* * *

Holtzmann pretty much inhaled the food the group had ordered once she had convinced them that she was perfectly fine and in dire need of food; she got done in record time, and finished what the others left over, as well, patting her tummy when she leaned back into her seat once the last bits of food had been polished off.

“So”, Abby was the one to speak up, bringing up what they all were thinking about, Dr Gorin included, “how much do you remember?”

“Not much”, the engineer gave back, while Erin reached out to grasp her hand, briefly making the blonde look at her before she went on, “I remember the moments before that asshole ghost possessed me, then when I woke up in the military van and then there’s just… bits and pieces. Like… random flashes.”

She swallowed heavily, a hint of pain flashing up in her eyes before her gaze dropped to the floor; realizing what she would say next, Erin squeezed her hand before she even said anything, giving her a pained look when the engineer finally continued.

“I killed people”, she half said, half asked, looking up at Erin again, the mixture of pain and fear in her eyes making the physicist’s heart clench up, “didn’t I.”

“Yes”, Erin confirmed, not willing to lie to her, even though the way Holtzmann stared down on her hands in response broke her heart, “but you… we had no choice. You had to, to get us out of there, and… most of it is on me, because I told you to. I’m sorry.”

“If anyone is to blame”, Dr Gorin spoke up before Holtzmann could respond to that admission of guilt from Erin, “it is the military people themselves. They could have avoided all of this simply by not bringing this horrible project back to life.”

“Let’s hope they’ll shelf it again now”, Holtzmann mumbled, running a shaky hand down her face, “after it went so wrong for them again. Cause while I’m not happy with killing people, I’ll do it again if they come after you guys again.”

“How much do you remember of that?” Erin wanted to know, thinking back to these horrible moments, and to Holtzmann practically overpowering the control they’d have over her to help her; the engineer shrugged, then smiled wryly at her, her response making the physicist smile a bit as well, despite how badly the situation back then had ended for everyone but Holtzmann and herself.

“I remember you strapped down to that table and pleading for help”, she let Erin know, the redhead running her thumb over her knuckles in silent encouragement, “and… I dunno, I was supposed to only listen to what Nashton was saying but… I couldn’t let them hurt you. And I remember carrying Abby after that, and cutting down some guys in uniform… and Patty talking to me, but I couldn’t react to her, only to you.”

“Well, now, you have your free will back”, Gorin said with a brief, tight smile, “but I suggest the four of you are on the lookout for a while. Common sense would dictate that they put an end to the project again, but the fact that they revived it in the first place showed that not much of that is going around there.”

“Thank you for your help, Dr Gorin”, Abby said, making the scientist look at her, “no one else could have helped us with this. Thank you.”

Holtzmann nodded her agreement, then moved to briefly hug the older woman; and to Erin’s surprise, Dr Gorin hugged her protégé back, then let them know that she’d head back to her own work, to study the chip the military had used, once more warning them to be careful and to not assume everything was solved now that they had Holtzmann back, Erin holding back a grimace as she had to admit that this was a good point, looking at the engineer in worry as she asked herself if all too soon, the military would come after all four of them again.


	11. Chapter 11

A while later, Gorin had headed back to her own workplace, and Abby and Patty had left, as well, dragging Kevin along to give Erin and Holtzmann some much needed privacy; and at first, Erin had been somewhat excited about their alone time, but that excitement had been dampened pretty quickly as Holtzmann was strangely subdued, just sitting there and studying her hands, apparently deep in thought.

“Holtz?” Erin carefully said as she sat next to her on the couch, making her look up and at her, “you okay?”

“Yes”, Holtzmann gave back at once, just a bit too fast, then sighed and shrugged, shoulders slumping, “no. I don’t know. So… we’re still doing this, then?”

“Doing what?” Erin wanted to know, confused, only to have her eyes go wide at the engineer’s response, not having expected this at all.

“This”, Holtzmann mumbled, gesturing from the physicist at herself, “us. This relationship.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Erin wanted to know, stumped and a bit scared, all at once fearing that Holtzmann might tell her in a second that she wanted to break up; in response, the blonde reached out and moved up her shirt, exposing the healing cuts the ghost had left in Erin’s side when it had been possessing the younger woman, then shrugged, sounding oddly defeated when she replied.

“I did this”, she said tonelessly, the desolate look in her eyes prompting Erin to reach out and place one hand on her forearm, “and I killed people. You’ve seen me do it. So if you… I don’t know, if you don’t want to do this anymore or are… afraid of me now, I’d understand. I wouldn’t hold it against you.”

“No”, Erin gave back at once, squeezing her arm and making her look at her again, the redhead briefly – and somewhat morbidly – wondering if she’d be able to feel the claws, should she squeeze with enough strength, “I’m neither afraid of you, nor do I want to break up. You mean so much to me Holtz, I know we haven’t been together for that long yet but… I can’t imagine not being with you. Don’t talk like that, please?”

She rubbed her arm, feeling a bit relieved when Holtzmann managed a weak smile; smiling back at her, Erin let her hand glide down the other woman’s arm, until she could curl her fingers around Holtzmann’s, tenderly running her thumb over the skin between the blonde’s knuckles as she went on.

“Yes, you killed people, and I’ve been there to see it”, she confirmed, making the younger woman grimace, “but you didn’t kill them for fun, you had to, to get us out of there. And… As I said, I kind of told you to, so part of that’s on me, too. If not all of it, because you were in no state to decide on your own… Not after what they’d done to you.”

Holtzmann let out a sigh in reply, but looked a bit less glum; Erin smiled at her, then, eager to convince her that she meant every word she just had said, she leaned in for a tender kiss, soon wrapping both arms around the engineer and holding her close as the kiss deepened.

“I’ve missed you so much”, Erin mumbled after the kiss, moving to straddle the blonde, the younger woman’s breath hitching noticeably when Erin conquered her lap, and when the physicist moved one hand to caress the fine hair at the back of Holtzmann’s neck, an audible _snikt_ echoed through the room, the engineer looking embarrassed while Erin let out a giggle, glad that this was lightening the mood a bit.

“Claw boner”, she then mumbled, giggling again at the look Holtzmann shot her; before the engineer could protest though, Erin kissed her again, Holtzmann thankfully taking the time to retract her claws before she moved her hands beneath Erin’s shirt and caressed her bare back, making her shudder with pleasure.

“You know”, she said once they had pulled apart again due to lack of oxygen, shuddering again when Holtzmann moved a bit to kiss her throat, “on any other day I would have suggested moving this to the bedroom, but after having you around without a possibility to kiss or even touch you…”

She earned a surprised look from Holtzmann when she slid off the blonde’s lap, ending up on her knees in front of her, the engineer breathing noticeably heavier when Erin unbuckled her belt, then slid her pants down along with her boxers, smiling up at her as she moved to kneel between her legs.

“You better make sure you have your claws under control”, she told the younger woman, running her hands up and down her bare thighs and making her groan, “wouldn’t want you to stab me while I do… this.”

And with that, Erin move forward, and ran her tongue over the other woman’s folds; Holtzmann’s reaction was immediate and positive, the blonde letting out a groan as she gripped the couch with both hands, her head falling back and ending up on the headrest, another groan escaping her through grit teeth when Erin increased her efforts.

“Oh God Erin”, she brought out, her hips twitching; Erin took a moment to smile at her, then carefully slid one finger inside her while she kept running her tongue over the engineer’s most sensitive areas, Holtzmann’s grip on the couch tightening as Erin sped up a bit more, adding a second finger after a while, and making the engineer moan her name yet again.

After that, it didn’t take long until she felt Holtzmann shudder against her, taking this as the signal that it was time to curl her fingers _just so_ ; and it worked, Holtzmann letting out a mixture of yelp and moan as she came – followed by a loud ripping sound, Erin pulling back in surprise when she realized what had happened.

“Holtzy”, she said with a little laugh once the blonde had come down from the orgasm high enough to actually be capable of listening to her, “you ripped the couch!”

“Well, it was either that”, Holtzmann gave back, still sounding breathless and groaning again when Erin winked at her before she licked her fingers clean, then wiped her mouth, “or a claw boner. Sorry.”

“Good choice then”, Erin replied with another laugh, making the engineer smirk – before she grasped the physicist’s arms and pulled her up so she could kiss her passionately, Erin feeling quite lightheaded by the time they pulled apart again.

“God I love you”, she mumbled after the kiss, speaking without thinking, just saying what was on her mind and on her heart; belatedly, she realized what she just had said, and her eyes momentarily widened – until she saw the look on Holtzmann’s face, the happy, wide smile and the shine in her eyes.

“I love you, too”, Holtzmann told her, the emotion in her voice making Erin’s heart soar; she beamed back at the engineer, then kissed her again, and when Holtzmann slid her hand beneath her shirt again with payback in mind, all the drama and pain of the past few days was forgotten.

* * *

“Erin”, Holtzmann whispered, shaking the physicist lightly, until Erin opened her eyes and blinked at her sleepily; she wanted to ask what was wrong, but before she could do more than take in a breath, Holtzmann placed one finger against her lips, making her look at her in confusion.

“Someone’s broken into the firehouse”, she told the physicist, still in a whispered, hushed tone, Erin’s eyes going wide, “stay here.”

Erin nodded, her heartrate speeding up; Holtzmann gave her a reassuring look, then soundlessly got out of bed and moved over to their bedroom door; and now, Erin could see the bright shine of flashlights through the gap between the door and the carpet, watching how Holtzmann lowered herself into a crouch next to the door, the claws of her right hand siding out slowly, barely making a sound this time.

Just when they were all the way out, the door slowly swung open, and Erin had to squint as the flashlight shone right in her face while the man holding it slowly stepped into the room; he had a second to realize that Erin was alone in the bed, and she picked up a startled _oh shit_ from his mind, then Holtzmann stabbed him in the foot, the claws going right through his boot, but before he could cry out, she had shot to her feet and slammed into him, using her weight to drive him back and against the man behind him.

Without missing a beat, and while he still tried to take in a breath to scream in pain, Holtzmann retracted her claws and punched him, straight in the face; he went down, made the way free for her to after his companion, and she headbutted him, the whole thing taking mere seconds, and the men she could hear downstairs none the wiser about what had happened to their companions.

“Stay here”, she told Erin, who nodded with wide eyes, then took off, rushing towards the fireman’s pole; glad that she had put on a shirt and boxers before going to sleep, as they’d provide less friction than her bare skin, she practically jumped onto it, then slid down, the men on the ground floor just having time to look up in surprise – then Holtzmann pushed herself away from the pole with as much strength as she could bring up, letting out an unarticulated yell as she flew towards them, her weight being enough to throw the man she barrelled into over and knock the breath out of him.

His companion had time to aim his weapon, and he did, pointing the gun at her head and pulling the trigger; her head snapped back in her neck as the bullet hit, and his eyes went wide when she slowly lowered her head again with a low growl, a brief trickle of blood dripping down her forehead before the wound closed and the bullet fell back out.

“That hurt”, she told him, and he lowered his weapon in response, sweating – the general had told them that the military had spent millions of dollars on making this woman indestructible, but it was the first time he saw it with his own eyes, and he couldn’t believe it.

“I’m sorry”, he said, of all things; unimpressed, Holtzmann’s eyes narrowed in response – before she pounced him and knocked him out, as well, then went perfectly still as she knelt on his chest, straining her ears to figure out where the final two men were, gritting her teeth when she heard heavy boots thump on the stairs.

_Erin._ She couldn’t let Erin get hurt, and certainly not by soldiers who were coming after her in the first place; realizing that the stairs would take too long, Holtzmann ran back to the pole and started climbing it, moving back up in record time, only to stop dead in her tracks when she arrived at the second floor.

At the top of the stairs, Erin was standing, both hands held out, sweat literally pouring down her face; and on the stairs, two men stood frozen, the engineer just needing a second to realize what was going on – and how fast she had to act, knowing that Erin wouldn’t be able to keep them like this for long.

Hurriedly, she rushed from the pole to the stairs; and a second before she reached the men, she called out “Let ‘em go Erin!”, and the physicist did so, both men tumbling down the stairs ass over teapot the blink of an eye later as Holtzmann simply had pushed them both.

“Urch”, Erin let out, her hands coming up to rub at her temples, blood trickling from her nose and mixing with the sweat still running in small rivulets down her face; concerned, Holtzmann asked her if she was alright, and Erin bravely nodded, telling herself that she could worry about her headache later.

“Okay”, Holtzmann said, giving her another concerned look though, “if you’re sure… Good job babe. Let’s tie these guys and their friends up, and then call the mayor. I think it’s time he used his pull to call these people back, before even more of them get hurt.”

Despite her pounding head, Erin took note of the fact that Holtzmann had said _hurt_ , and not _killed_ ; she smiled weakly and nodded, Holtzmann smiling back at her before she went to find zip ties and ropes and chains, Erin sitting down on top of the stairs as she waited for her to come back, wondering when these people finally would stop coming after her girlfriend and would leave them in peace.


	12. Chapter 12

“Yes, I know it’s four a.m.”, Holtzmann said a short while later, standing near the group of groggy, tied up soldiers, the angry squawking Erin could hear from the mayor through the phone not helping with her headache, “but our military friends didn’t care about that, and now, neither do I. You can either call your soldier buddies and have them picked up at the firehouse, or I’ll kill them, your call.”

Erin knew that her girlfriend wouldn’t just kill the helpless guys in cold blood, not even after their attack on the firehouse – but the men themselves and the mayor didn’t know that, and the angry squawking stopped for a few seconds, Holtzmann making sure that the soldiers couldn’t see her face when she winked at the physicist.

One of the men shifted on the floor, probably just to get into a more comfortable position, but at once, Holtzmann turned to look at him, still holding the phone to her ear with one hand, a pleasant smile on her face as her claws slowly slid out between the knuckles of her other, free one, the man going wide-eyed before he sat perfectly still.

Holtzmann gave him a toothy grin, left the blades out though as she kept talking to the mayor; and not much later, she ended the call, then looked at Erin as she put the phone on the nearest flat surface, a hint of amusement in her voice when she spoke up.

“The mayor is sending a clean-up crew”, she let the physicist know, “how’s your head, sweetheart?”

“Getting better”, Erin replied, glad that her nose had stopped bleeding at this point; behind Holtzmann, one of the men cleared his throat, and the engineer turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, Erin holding back the urge to giggle at how he visibly shrank back.

“Um, sorry to interrupt, Dr Holtzmann, Ma’am”, he still was brave enough to say, even though his voice trembled audibly, “but… would you mind… um… pulling them back in? They… kind of freak me out.”

“Do they now”, Holtzmann wanted to know, in a pleasant tone, making him gulp audibly, “that’s too bad.”

And moments later, Erin couldn’t hold back the giggles anymore as Holtzmann did retract them – not all of them though, the middle one not going back into her arm, the engineer using it to flip the man off before she made it vanish again, as well.

“Thank you, Ma’am”, he mumbled, not reacting to the rude gesture the slightest; Holtzmann gave him an innocent smile, then went to sit next to Erin, putting one arm around her shoulders and asking her in a low voice if her head really was getting better.

“Yes”, Erin gave back, smiling weakly at her, “thankfully. Holding them in place like that really drained me, thank you for coming so quickly to help.”

“Nothing to thank me for, babe”, Holtzmann gave back, not caring about the soldiers anymore as she pressed a brief, but tender kiss to the other woman’s temple; one of them raised an eyebrow, but they all held back any commentary, but just sat quietly, until someone pounded against the front door and made them all jump.

“Not so loud, fellas”, Holtzmann admonished as she pulled the door open, exposing several men in uniform, none of them armed though, “it’s quarter past four a.m., wouldn’t want to wake the neighbours.”

One of them shot her a dirty look, but made no move to attack her, simply walking past her to the injured and tied up men on the ground; the next in line seemed a bit friendlier, asking if they were hurt, raising an eyebrow at Holtzmann’s shrug.

“A bit banged up”, the blonde then said, watching how the soldiers were pulled to their feet, ready to defend herself, should they make a move to attack, “oh, and one of them has holes in his foot, make sure to carry that guy. Keep in mind that I could have stabbed him someplace else before you send someone after us again.”

“The damage done and the cost starts to outweigh possible benefits”, the friendlier one replied, ignoring the look his grumpy comrade shot him, “so… I imagine you have nothing to worry about, Dr Holtzmann.”

“Good to know”, Holtzmann gave back, the man giving her a lopsided, brief smile before he moved to help the one she had stabbed in the foot; as the moved past her to the door though, he said her name, and his companion stopped, the engineer almost ready to fight, suddenly quite sure that he would attack her for what she had done to him.

“I know you could have killed me”, he said instead, “but you didn’t. Thank you.”

“…you’re welcome”, Holtzmann gave back, Erin smiling a bit, having watched the whole scene from her seat on the stairs; the man gave a brief nod, then got moving again with the help of his comrade, the others following suit, a few of them walking quite carefully, still dazed from the hits they had taken.

“Am I glad they’re gone”, Erin said the moment the door had closed behind the last one of the group, “can we please go back to bed now? My head still hurts and I’m tired.”

“Yeah, we should”, Holtzmann agreed, even though she was quite sure she wouldn’t get much sleep, still somewhat hyped up from the fight; not wanting to keep Erin awake though, she went back upstairs with the physicist and took her in her arms once they both had laid back down, rubbing her back soothingly until Erin was fast asleep, not caring that she’d most likely spend the rest of the night lying awake next to her, just glad that the redhead hadn’t been hurt and that finally, the military would leave them all alone again.

* * *

In the next morning, the mayor sent a car to pick them up at nine, none of them truly surprised – Holtzmann and Erin had told Abby and Patty about what had happened during the night, both of them quite angry when the car arrived, Abby vowing that she’d give the mayor a piece of her mind.

“At first he stonewalled us when you were missing”, she told Holtzmann as they walked to the car, Agent Rorke giving her a worried glance at the venom in her tone, not making a comment though – and tempting Erin to look into his mind, to find out if he silently agreed that the mayor’s behaviour had been wrong, knowing that both Rorke and Hawkins had somewhat warmed up to the four of them now, “and now he has us dragged to his office like criminals?”

“Not quite”, Hawkins told her, making her look at him with a raised eyebrow, “you are not under arrest. Technically, you are free to decline the appointment, we suggest you go there though, the mayor might have some important information.”

“He better”, Abby grumbled, Holtzmann holding back a smirk at her annoyed tone, “it’s way too early for such official stuff.”

“At least you didn’t get woken up in the middle of the night by over-eager soldier boys”, Erin replied with a yawn, taking note of how Agent Hawkins cleared his throat at her words, looking a bit embarrassed, and making her wonder how much the men knew about what had happened, “Holtz might not need much sleep, but I could have done with a few more hours. Can we stop for coffee on the way?”

“Um, sure”, Agent Rorke gave back, clearly not having expected that, and probably least of all from Erin, who so far had been somewhat shy and reserved when she had talked to the agents, “there’s a Starbucks on the way.”

And so, all four of the Ghostbusters held paper cups with hot coffee as they entered the mayor’s office, and Holtzmann was eating a donut, not caring the slightest when some of the raspberry filling fell out of it and landed on the carpet with an audible sound, the mayor raising an eyebrow, but not making any comment.

“Welcome, Ladies”, he said instead, gesturing at the chairs which had been readied for them in front of his desk, Erin flashing back to the first time they had been there, even though this time, they sat in a different constellation – Holtzmann took the chair at the far right again, and she sat next to her, not willing to be anywhere but right her side after the days she’d been forced to spend with the controlled, brainwashed version of the engineer.

“Thank you for coming”, the mayor added, smiling at them while his PA Jennifer Lynch stayed in the background, Erin taking note of the fact that her laptop was open and running, showing a black screen in a video player, wondering if they’d get to see another video of mass hysteria or if it’d be something else.

“I see you’re feeling better, Dr Holtzmann”, Mayor Bradley continued; Holtzmann just shrugged, but Abby glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest, her voice dry when she was the one to reply.

“Not thanks to you”, she said accusingly, unimpressed by the look he shot her, “you were pretty good at stonewalling us when Holtz was still missing, weren’t you.”

“I’ll let you know I did not have much of a choice in the matter”, Bradley let her know, somewhat prim, prompting her to give him another unimpressed stare, “I would have told you if I had been permitted to, believe me. In fact, it was hard enough to get permission to show you what you’re about to see, but it is quite important for your work.”

 He looked at Jennifer Lynch and nodded, and in response, she pushed the space bar on her laptop; the screen remained black for a few more seconds, then a flickering, unsteady image appeared – and Holtzmann took in a sharp breath and sat up straight in her seat, Erin almost automatically reaching over and grabbing her hand, finding herself unable to look away from the screen though.

On the small monitor, a grainy black and white video was playing, the picture a bit unsteady, showing that someone was filming with a handheld camera; and even though it wasn’t the best quality, they could all tell that the person being filmed a few feet away was Holtzmann, the engineer facing a group of soldiers, something about the look on her face telling Erin and the others though that she wasn’t herself.

“That’s not you”, the physicist said before anyone else had the chance to, “that’s… during when that ghost was possessing you.”

“Correct”, Bradley threw in, but still Holtzmann swallowed heavily, not remembering much of what the ghost had done while it had been in her body, but judging from the sheer number of people on the screen aiming their weapons at her, the ghost certainly just hadn’t taken her body out for pizza and a milkshake.

The video had no sound, so they had no idea what the soldier who stepped to the front was saying; they could quickly tell though that he was a simple distraction, as the soldier behind the man, hidden from Holtzmann’s view, was readying a clunky looking gun, then quickly stepped forward and fired, the video too grainy to let the group see any details, but whatever he had used, it had been effective, Holtzmann taking a step back before her body hit the pavement.

And a second later, they realized why the mayor was showing them this, as the ghost suddenly appeared over Holtzmann’s lifeless body, hovering for a second as if to decide where to go – before it whooshed off into the distance, apparently having no interest in possessing any of the military men.

“As you can see”, Mayor Bradley said, switching the video off, “this ghost is still on the loose. I know you ladies have other things on your mind right now, but this ghost has to be caught before it can do any more damage.”

Holtzmann almost asked what exactly the ghost had done while it had been possessing her, then decided against it – it had been bad enough that she had killed people in the military lab, and she didn’t want to hear about more victims, caused by the murderous apparition using her body.

And murderous it had looked, she sourly thought to herself, during the brief moment it  had been on screen… and suddenly, it hit her what this mean, and her eyes went wide, prompting the others to look at her in concern.

“We could see it”, Holtzmann said, Erin gasping as well when she realized that the engineer was right, “on the video right now. And the soldiers didn’t act as if it was there…”

“They couldn’t see it”, Erin realized, making the mayor nod, “but the camera picked it up…”

“I know what to do”, Holtzmann threw in, smiling, glad that she had something to build which would take her mind off of the things she had done while under the military’s control; Erin smiled at her, knowing what she was thinking even without having to read her mind, and grasped her hand, giving it a brief squeeze, happy at the smile Holtzmann gave her in response.

“I won’t keep you from getting to work, then”, the mayor told the four of them, prompting them to get to their feet, “and let me reassure you once more that you have nothing to fear from the military any longer. This has been taken care of.”

_…one… like… more need._

Erin was a bit confused at the few snippets she picked up from the mayor after this reassurance, and gave him a hard look; he looked back at her in perfect innocence, and when she tried to lower her guard further and perhaps pick up more from him, all she got was the image of a heavy steel safe, and she knew that he was hiding something from her, holding back the urge to frown, knowing that this would give her away and let him know that she had tried to read his mind.

She wondered what he had been thinking about, what he was hiding from her, and even though he just had told them that the military would leave the four of them alone from now on, she worried.


	13. Chapter 13

The moment they were back at the firehouse, Holtzmann went upstairs to her lab and got to work; she didn’t tell any of them what she was planning, but her enthusiasm and joy more than made up for her secretive behaviour, even though Erin felt a bit neglected when Holtzmann called Abby up to her lab after an hour of working up there.

“I wonder what Holtzy came up with”, Patty said, distracting Erin from these thoughts, “she’s been so quiet up there, there haven’t even been any poofs.”

“Which would be a good sign with any other person, but is a bit disconcerting with Holtzmann”, Erin added, making Patty laugh and nod; and a moment later, Abby appeared right next to them and made them both jump, Erin giving her a strict look afterwards.

“Sorry”, Abby said somewhat sheepishly before the physicist could actually scold her, “I’m just excited! Come up to the lab with me you guys, you’ll love this!”

Curious, Erin and Patty forgot all about being startled by the researcher’s sudden teleport and made their way upstairs – while Abby used her power again to get back there, thus easily beating them to the lab – where Holtzmann was waiting for them, beaming at the two women as they entered, stepping aside afterwards and presenting the objects on her workbench with a flourish.

“Behold!” she then said dramatically, making Erin giggle and Patty snort, “the Holtzmann Spot-that-Ghost.”

She gestured at her yellow-tinted glasses, and as Erin took a closer look, she saw that something had been mounted to their frame; and on the workbench behind Holtzmann, more of the small devices laid waiting, the physicist smiling as she realized what the engineer had been working on.

“This”, Holtzmann went on, smiling proudly, “will turn the lens of any glasses it is attached to into a camera lens, so we should be able to see the ghost through them. We tested it with mine and Abby’s, and it works with both. Now we’ll just need to find glasses for you guys and no, Patty, you can’t use sunglasses.”

“Awwww”, Patty said with a pout, making Erin giggle again; Holtzmann smirked at her, then suggested that they should find glasses for the two of them quickly, so they all would be prepared as fast as possible.

“Not sure where we should start looking”, she then had to admit, “maybe at the warehouse? Honestly, I’m kinda surprised the ghost hasn’t come back to possess me again.”

“Don’t jinx it”, Erin scolded, making the engineer clear her throat, “but yeah, that is a good point. On the other hand, if the ghost left when the military… captured you, it simply might not know you’re back.”

“Let’s hope it won’t find out”, Abby said, grimacing, while Erin nodded, her hand briefly moving to her side – the cuts the ghost had left there with Holtzmann’s claws were almost healed at this point, but still hurt if she made a wrong movement, and from the way Holtzmann swallowed, Erin didn’t need to read her mind to know at once what she was thinking.

She almost said then that it wasn’t the engineer’s fault, but held the words back, not wanting to talk about this with Abby and Patty in the room; and so, she just gave the blonde a look which she hoped would convey the reassurance, relieved when Holtzmann gave her a brief smile.

Still Erin made a mental note to talk about this as soon as they’d be alone; for the moment though, they had other things to focus on, the physicist knowing that the ghost had to be stopped before it could do any more damage.

“Let’s go and find glasses”, she thus said, making the other three nod, “and then head out to that warehouse. It’s as good a starting point as any.”

Holtzmann nodded and slipped her hand into Erin’s, making her smile again; and then, the four of them headed out, eager to get what they’d need so the engineer could finish the camera glasses for the team and so that hunting the murderous ghost would finally be possible.

* * *

“Okay”, Holtzmann said as she parked the car and pulled on her modified gloves, then switched on the little device mounted to the frame of her glasses, “ready, Ladies?”

“Ready when you are”, Abby replied, Erin and Patty nodding as well; they all activated their devices, Erin feeling a bit weird wearing glasses she didn’t really need while Patty once more lamented that she hadn’t gotten sunglasses, Holtzmann giving her an amused look as they made their way to the warehouse’s entrance.

“Next time”, she then promised, making Patty beam at her; then, Abby shushed them both as they entered and looked around, the devices whirring softly as they did their job, Erin frowning after a moment though as she couldn’t spot anything out of the ordinary even through the camera lens.

Since their last visit there, the place had been cleaned up, as well, all the blood gone; Abby switched on the PKE meter, but none of them was truly surprised when it stayed dark and silent, Erin still letting out an unhappy sigh as she looked at it, as if staring at it hard enough would make it whir to life after all.

“I guess that would have been too easy”, Patty commented after a minute had passed and nothing had happened; Abby sighed and nodded, then suggested that they should check the second floor, just in case, earning nods from the other Ghostbusters, the researcher leading the way and the others close behind her, letting their guard down a bit though as the PKE meter still didn’t show the slightest reaction.

“Okay”, Abby sighed once the second floor had been checked thoroughly, “there’s nothing here. Not even ghosts from the victims because Holtzy and I busted those. I guess we should go back to the firehouse.”

Erin sighed as well, and nodded, feeling a bit lost now, not sure how they were supposed to find this ghost now; not wanting to waste the battery, she reached up and switched off the device, then removed the glasses, giving Holtzmann a confused look at the “aw” the engineer let out in response to her actions.

“You looked kinda hot with the glasses”, the blonde told her, making Patty snicker while Abby just rolled her eyes, “my hot little professor. I’ve been a naughty, naughty student, Professor Erin.”

“Holtzmann”, Erin said in a warning tone, blushing; Holtzmann snickered, and shrugged, the physicist rolling her eyes – before she kept her from making another inappropriate comment by kissing her briefly, but gently, the engineer happily smiling at her afterwards, always enjoying such displays of affection.

“Okay”, Abby threw in before the two could get lost in each other’s eyes, “let’s head back and see if we can come up with something else. Preferably before that ghost finds another body to inhabit.”

“The glasses might make a return then”, Holtzmann said, winking at Erin and making her giggle; shaking her head at their antics, Abby led the way back downstairs, the others following suit, feeling a bit bummed that the ghost hadn’t been there, but not truly surprised – it had been days since the people had been killed there, and with the warehouse now completely abandoned, they all figured that the ghost didn’t truly have a reason to go back there.

“Back to the firehouse it is”, Holtzmann announced as she got into the driver’s seat, Erin as always riding shotgun and Abby and Patty in the back, “anybody wanna stop for tacos on the way?”

“Oooh, tacos”, Patty agreed at once; Holtzmann beamed at her, then started the engine, the tires squealing as she stepped down onto the gas pedal, Erin glancing at the warehouse as they drove away from it, asking herself yet again what they could do now and how they could stop this ghost before it might go on yet another killing spree.

* * *

“Oh God, I overate”, Erin groaned quite a while later, dropping down onto her couch; smirking, Holtzmann sat down next to her, clearly having no such troubles, even though she had eaten more than Erin, the physicist thinking that this was highly unfair.

“Want a tummy rub?” Holtzmann offered, distracting her from the unfairness of it all as she nodded eagerly; the engineer gave her another smile, then patted her lap, and Erin responded at once by lying down so that her head and shoulders were resting on the blonde’s thighs.

“Comfy”, she mumbled while Holtzmann moved her hand beneath her shirt, and started to rub tender circles on her stomach; Erin let out a happy sigh and relaxed almost immediately, her eyes drifting close as Holtzmann kept rubbing her belly, but before she could fall dose off, she felt Holtzmann make contact with the healing cuts in her side, and immediately, the engineer stopped moving.

“…sorry”, the blonde said, before Erin had the chance to speak up, “did that hurt…?”

“No”, Erin reassured her at once, opening her eyes to look up at her, “not at all. It barely hurts at all anymore, no worries. And it’s not your fault.”

She sat up again, and grasped Holtzmann’s hand, smiling despite the doubtful look on the engineer’s face, eager to reassure now that what had happened hadn’t been Holtzmann’s fault and that she didn’t blame her.

“It’s not your fault”, she told her, squeezing her hand, then moving her thumb to run it over the skin between the other woman’s knuckles, knowing that this helped to calm her down, “nothing that ghost did while it was possessing you is your fault. I know you’d never hurt me.”

“Never in a lifetime”, Holtzmann reassured her at once, with another unhappy look at her side, “but still. I should have done something, fought it or stopped it, I don’t know…”

“You can’t even remember what it made you do”, Erin pointed out, earning another dismayed glance, “and while we don’t know exactly yet how possession works, we do know that whoever gets possessed can’t do anything against it, the ghosts are just too strong. It’s not your fault, and you didn’t do anything wrong, okay? I don’t blame you for this, and it didn’t change anything of my feelings for you. I love you.”

“I love you, too”, Holtzmann told her, to her relief smiling a bit; Erin smiled back at her, then leaned in for a tender kiss, unable to hold back a content sigh when it deepened fairly quickly and she felt the engineer pull her closer, until she was practically straddling her.

One of her hands came up almost automatically to rest at the back of the blonde’s neck, while the other slid beneath her shirt so she could rub her bare back; and as they kept kissing, and Holtzmann pulled her even closer, Erin didn’t even realize that she was letting her guard down – until an image flashed up in her mind, one which certainly hadn’t come from her

It was just there for a few seconds, but long enough to let her see all the details, and to make her blush – because it had been an image of her, lying on what she assumed what Holtzmann’s workbench naked and blindfolded, and Holtzmann herself had been kneeling between her spread legs, Erin not needing to look into her mind again to know what she had been doing there, in this little fantasy.

She gasped and went wide-eyed, prompting Holtzmann to give her a confused look, the engineer clearly having no idea that Erin had seen this; clearing her throat, Erin felt her cheeks flush, but still smiled somewhat coyly, raising an eyebrow, amused to see that Holtzmann blushed a bit too when the physicist spoke up. 

“Really, Holtz?” she wanted to know, “blindfolded on your workbench? That’s quite kinky, no?”

“Um”, Holtzmann let out, clearing her throat, “ahem. Well, you know. Making out like that, I got a bit worked up.”

“Apparently”, Erin teased, then giggled before she leaned closer, lowering her voice and mumbling into Holtzmann’s ear, “and maybe, once this ghost has been taken care of, and when we are alone at the firehouse… We might give that a try.”

“There’s another version with handcuffs”, the engineer told her, a lusty glint in her eyes; Erin raised both brows this time, then smirked and let out a “tsk tsk” sound – before she kissed the engineer again, determined to at least get the naked part of the fantasy fulfilled, and more than willing to do the same with the rest of it as soon as possible.


	14. Chapter 14

In the next morning, Abby and Patty were already at the firehouse when Erin and Holtzmann arrived, the couple having taken a bit longer in the shower than usual – mostly because Holtzmann had suggested showering together, and even though Erin usually was quite strict about not doing so on a workday, she had given in fairly quickly, having thought back to the engineer’s fantasy she had seen the previous evening and haven gotten quite worked up again at the mere thought.

“Look who’s late”, Abby teased at once, laughing when Erin blushed; Holtzmann was much less perturbed, just smirking as she shrugged, taking a sip of her coffee to go before she replied.

“We’re not”, she let Abby know, making her raise an eyebrow, “we’d only be late if Kevin was here already. I’m heading up to the lab, join me there later, babe?”

“Sure”, Erin replied, leaning in for a brief, but gentle kiss; from the corner of her eye, she saw Abby smile at the display of affection, but the researcher didn’t make a comment and by now, Erin didn’t blush anymore either when their friends witnessed little scenes like this one, simply smiling to herself as she watched Holtzmann go up the stairs, wondering if the engineer was aware that her girlfriend was pretty much staring at her ass.

“Don’t start drooling, babygirl”, Patty teased, and now, Erin did blush; she cleared her throat, then smiled innocently, pretending that she had no idea what Patty was talking about as she walked to her desk and booted up her laptop.

Feeling motivated and eager to get some work done after the morning’s activities, Erin softly hummed along with the radio as she opened up the draft for the next book Abby and she were writing together, taking a sip of her coffee every now and then as she worked, and flinching when an audible poof came from the lab upstairs.

“All good!” Holtzmann called down a second after the poof; Erin rolled her eyes and shook her head, then focused on her work again, barely noticing how time passed as she typed, only snapping out of her high focus when Kevin approached her and cleared his throat.

“Boss Erin?” he said, prompting her to give him a questioning look, “there’s a Miss Winners here to see you?”

Erin frowned, the name not familiar to her; then, Kevin gestured at the young woman, and she recognized her as Monica Winters, the sole survivor of the warehouse massacre which had put the Ghostbusters on the ghost’s trail in the first place.

“Miss Winters”, she said, a bit surprised, and came to her feet, “hello, um, welcome. What can we do for you…?”

“Can you get the others, too?” Monica wanted to know after Erin and she had shaken hands, “so I won’t have to tell this twice?”

“Oh, of course”, Erin gave back, smiling warmly at the young woman before she made her way to the stairs and called out to Holtzmann; Abby and Patty already had taken note of something going on at this point and came to look on their own, Holtzmann making use of the pole again and landing with an audible _thump._

“Oh, hi”, she said as she walked over to where Erin was standing, close to the young woman, “Monica, right? We haven’t met but…”

She trailed off and stopped, her eyes narrowing, her nostrils flaring as she took in an audible breath; and then, her claws popped out, Erin turning to look at her in shock, but before she could ask what was going on, Monica took a swift step closer to her, wrapped one arm around her shoulders from behind – and pressed a sharp knife against her throat, Erin going perfectly still as her eyes went wide.

“I’m sorry”, Monica whimpered, while Holtzmann let out a low growl, didn’t dare move though, not wanting to risk Erin getting hurt, “I’m sorry, I can’t… I have to, I have or he’s gonna…”

Abby did what Holtzmann didn’t dare to do, making use of her power to vanish into thin air and reappear right in front of Erin; Monica’s eyes went wide as she realized what was happening, but before she could react, and cut the physicist, Abby had grabbed the redhead’s arm and teleported her out of the danger zone, ending up several feet behind Holtzmann.

“No!” Monica cried out, “no, I have to, you have to let me…!”

She let out an incoherent cry and cringed, all four Ghostbusters realizing what was going on when ectoplasm dripped from her nose – and the knowledge what was happening was the only thing which saved her, Holtzmann reacting quickly when the woman rushed at them, stepping in front of her friends and taking the hit, a low grunt coming from her when Monica rammed the knife into her stomach, the blade going in all the way to the hilt.

Gritting her teeth, the engineer grabbed the knife’s handle and made sure Monica couldn’t yank it back out as she took a step back; now that she was disarmed, the young woman looked somewhat lost and confused, the ghost inside her clearly not having expected Holtzmann to do that – perhaps, the engineer thought to herself as she tried to ignore the pain, and the blood she could feel trickle down her stomach and into her pants, it had been hoping that she’d kill the girl, having a second to wonder why the ghost wasn’t trying to possess her again, then deciding that she didn’t care, as long as the ghost stayed away from her.

“Holtz!” she heard Erin cry out, but was too busy with staying on her feet to actually turn her head and look at her girlfriend – as long as the knife was in the wound, it couldn’t heal, and the pain was only getting worse instead of better; from the corner of her eye, Holtzmann saw how Erin got moving, a look of fierce anger on her face, her steps quick and secure as she rushed to where Monica was still standing – and punched the girl straight in the face, hard enough to send her sprawling to the ground.

“Glasses”, Holtzmann brought out, feeling blood trickle from her mouth and down her chin, “the ghost, we need…”

Her legs buckled, and she went down to her knees; and a second later, while Abby said “on it!” and vanished in a cloud of black and blue smoke, Erin was by the engineer’s side and frantically said her name, earning a pained groan in response.

“The knife”, Patty fretted, while on the ground, Monica was groaning and trying to sit up again, “we have to pull it out!”

“No”, Holtzmann snapped at her, earning startled looks from the physicist and the historian, “not as long as… that ghost is around. We have to capture or destroy it first, if it possesses one of you… while you hold the knife…”

Abby reappeared next to them, with the devices for her own glasses and for Holtzmann’s, and the already prepared glasses for Erin and Patty; hurriedly, they put them on, Erin somehow managing to still her shaking hands long enough to clip the device to the engineer’s glasses, all four of them looking around afterwards, trying to figure out if the ghost was still within the girl or if it was hovering around somewhere, waiting for another chance to strike.

“Patty”, Erin said when they couldn’t spot it anywhere, “Rowan had to get out of Abby when you touched her, can you…?”

Patty nodded and hurried to where Monica was still on the ground, looking dazed, blood trickling from her nose; and while she pulled off her glove, Abby teleported again, getting proton packs for Erin and herself and reappearing next to the physicist with them, figuring that Holtzmann was in no condition to help at the moment.

Hurriedly, the two women pulled the packs on, then readied the proton guns; and the moment they had begun to hum lowly, ready for use, Patty grabbed Monica’s bare arm, her eyes flashing up with the eerie white glow they all knew by now, Erin having a second to wonder if Holtzmann’s camera lens glasses would work – before she saw the ghost get catapulted out of the girl, a look of almost comical surprise on the apparition’s face.

Quickly, before the ghost could re-orient itself and choose another victim to possess, Abby and Erin both fired; the proton streams wrapped around the ghost, and it howled in pain and anger, thrashing against the streams, both women relieved to see that they were holding the ghost firmly though.

“Patty!” Abby cried, “quickly! A trap!”

In response, Patty ran to the wall on which they kept their gear when it wasn’t in use, quickly snatching up one of the traps; struggling to stay conscious by now, Holtzmann watched how the historian tossed the trap right beneath the ghost, then stepped down onto the pedal which opened it, the ghost’s howls increasing when the trap started to suck it in.

Gripping the proton guns tight, Erin and Abby made sure to not let it escape; the ghost shouted curses at them as it was dragged down, struggling all the while – and then it got sucked into the trap fully, and Patty hurriedly stepped on the pedal again, the trap snapping shut, Erin letting out a heavy breath as she took her thumb off the trigger button and the proton stream stopped flowing from her weapon.

“I’m sorry”, Monica whimpered on the ground, managing to sit up at last, “I didn’t… he said I had to or he’d make me kill my family and then myself, he said I had to come here… I’m sorry…”

“It’s not your fault, honey”, Patty told her, while Erin quickly holstered the proton gun, then knelt down next to Holtzmann again; the engineer was gritting her teeth, preparing herself to remove the knife, and shaking her head when Erin offered her help.

“Just a second”, she then brought out between grit teeth, “this is gonna… hurt like a bitch.”

She took in a deep breath, coughed up some more blood – and then her grip on the knife tightened, and Erin couldn’t hold back a wince when she pulled it out, perhaps faster than it was healthy, letting it clatter to the floor the moment it was out and slumping back, into Erin’s waiting arms, the physicist holding her close as she, with her teeth still grit in pain, waited for the healing to kick in.

Thankfully, it did so quickly, the wound closing from within, with rather audible, somehow wet noises which made Erin grimace; and the moment it had fully healed, she felt Holtzmann relax considerably, the engineer letting out a heavy breath as she rested her head on Erin’s shoulder.

“Ouch”, Holtzmann said once she had regained enough of her composure to talk; in response, Erin pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, concern evident in her voice when she asked the engineer if she sure that she was okay.

“Yeah, fine”, the blonde reassured her, even managing a smile as she sat up, “that shirt is ruined now though. And so are the pants. Aw, I liked those pants.”

She grimaced at the bloodstains on the fabric, and Erin wanted to scold her for worrying more about the damage done to her clothing than to her body; on the other hand though, the physicist figured, said physical damage had been taken care of quickly by the blonde’s powers, and she was all too aware that this could have ended much worse, not wanting to imagine any other member of the team getting hurt like that, with no way to heal it the way Holtzmann had.

“I’m sorry”, Monica interrupted those thoughts from where she was still sitting on the floor, one hand against her bleeding nose, “I didn’t want to but he left me no choice… I’m sorry…”

“Not your fault”, Holtzmann told her, daring to sit up again, the pain gone at this point, smiling at Erin when the physicist kept one hand on her back, just in case, “and it’s all fine now, that ghost is gone for good.”

“Um, sorry for hitting you so hard”, Erin decided that she better apologize as well, even though she didn’t really feel very sorry; the younger woman gave her a weak smile and a shrug, signalling that it was okay, then came to her feet with the help of Abby and Patty, nodding when Abby suggested she should go to the hospital.

“She better not tell them Erin punched her”, Holtzmann commented once the girl had taken her leave, “the last thing we need now is more attention from official people.”

“Nah, she won’t”, Patty reassured her, making her smile slightly, “no worries there.”

“Come on”, Erin threw in before the engineer could voice possible doubts she might have about Monica’s ability to make up a convincing story about what had happened to her face, “we better get you cleaned up, you’re all bloodied.”

She grimaced at the bloodstains, smiled again though at the look Holtzmann gave her, and Abby threw up her hands, shaking her head as she piped up.

“Again”, she told the couple, “if you get it on in the shower here, I’m leaving. And Holtz, remember…”

“Yeah, yeah”, the blonde interrupted her, grinning, “claws. Pipes. I’m aware. Later guys!”

“Later”, Abby gave back with a roll of her eyes, then headed out, dragging Patty along with her; Erin giggled at their antics, then grasped Holtzmann’s hand and led the way upstairs, eager to finally have a shower together without a ghost interrupting them and all the drama which had followed.


	15. Chapter 15

The couple had decided not to go home immediately after the rather long and satisfying shower, but had opted to stay in the firehouse instead; and with Abby and Patty having taken the rest of the day off, Erin and Holtzmann decided to take it easy, as well, not getting much work done, even though Holtzmann couldn’t keep herself from doing a bit of tinkering, Erin practicing her telekinesis more while the engineer was busy with that.

Not sure if a bust might be called in, they both stayed at the firehouse until their official closing hours; only then, they headed on to Erin’s home, picking up dinner on the way, Erin feeling relaxed and content when Holtzmann and she had finished eating and had moved on to snuggle on the couch.

“I’m glad this all has been resolved”, Erin mumbled after they just had cuddled in silence for a while, idly drawing invisible, but complicated patterns on Holtzmann’s thigh, “and that you’re all fine again.”

“Me too”, Holtzmann reassured her, smiling a bit, “and, um… I’m really glad that… what happened didn’t scare you off. I meant it when I said I wouldn’t hold it against you but… it would have hurt.”

“And I meant it when I said that nothing of what has happened has scared me off”, Erin reassured her, grasping her hand and squeezing it, making her smile slightly again, “and I also meant it when I said that I love you.”

“I love you, too”, Holtzmann told her, then pulled her close for another kiss; it deepened fairly quickly, and soon, Erin found herself in Holtzmann’s lap again, a hint of mischief in her eyes when she pulled back from the kiss and asked the engineer to wait five minutes before following her to the bedroom.

“Okay?” Holtzmann gave back, curious; Erin just winked at her, and stole another brief kiss, then got up from the couch and hurried off, the blonde looking after her curiously, briefly regretting it that her girlfriend was the mind reader and that she had no idea what to expect now.

Fidgeting, she waited for the five minutes to pass, even though it felt more like five years; finally though, they were over, and she practically jumped up from the couch, feeling excited as she made her way to the bedroom.

The door was closed, briefly giving her pause before she decided to be polite and knock; she heard Erin giggle in response, then the physicist called out “Come in!”, and Holtzmann opened the door, her breath getting caught in her throat the moment she stepped into the room.

Erin was naked on the bed, lounging comfortably on the sheets; she smiled at the engineer, clearly enjoying the dumbstruck look on Holtzmann’s face, her smile widening as she held up the long black silk scarf, the coy tone of her voice when she spoke only turning Holtzmann on more.

“It’s not your workbench”, she told the engineer, and noticed her swallow heavily, “but I think for starters, my bed will do?”

_Snikt!_

Erin wasn’t surprised at this reaction, but still let out a little giggle; Holtzmann cleared her throat and, with a bit of a blush, retracted her claws again – before she grinned and pretty much pounced onto the bed, earning another giggle from the redhead when she practically snatched the scarf out of her hands.

“You”, she then said, the way she was looking at Erin making the other woman’s cheeks flush, “are the best girlfriend _ever._ ”

“I think we’re pretty much on par”, Erin still had time to say – then Holtzmann was kissing her deeply, and a short while later, the engineer tied the scarf over her eyes, Erin already breathing quicker in excitement, her arousal only growing when Holtzmann tenderly made her lie on her back and kissed her again, her heart racing as she was looking forward to the things the engineer would make her feel.

* * *

 

_It feels strange, wrong, to stand behind the general like this and do nothing, just watch, wait for the next order; he’s ignoring her for now though, he knows she’s under control, she wonders if he knows that part of her is still aware and screaming, but she knows that, if he does, he won’t care._

_He talks to the scientist, the man who did… something to her brain, something which hurt and something which put her under the control of this horrible general, and all she can do is stand there, and watch, and listen._

_He steps aside to let the scientist do his work, and she sees the girl in the tank, just like the one they put her in back then… and the girl turns her head and looks at her, and she’s young, younger even than she herself has been when they did this to her._

_She’s young, and looks innocent… but then their eyes meet, and the girl smiles._

Erin and Holtzmann awoke at exactly the same moment, both of them breathing heavily; Erin still had time to realize that this time, despite the nightmare, Holtzmann hadn’t popped her claws – then the engineer was bolting from the bed and ran for the bathroom, the physicist’s heart clenching up when she heard her throw up moments later.

Quickly, she got out of bed as well, and followed Holtzmann to the bathroom; the engineer was kneeling in front of the toilet, gripping it tightly, letting out a shuddery breath when Erin knelt down next to her and started rubbing her back, holding her hair back with her other hand.

It took a while until the vomiting had stopped, another shuddery breath coming from Holtzmann as she tried to figure out if she had to puke again or if this really was it; Erin rubbed her back for a while longer, then asked in a low, kind voice if she wanted some water, earning a brief nod from the blonde, giving her a smile before she briefly straightened up to fill the plastic cup the engineer normally used to brush her teeth with water, placing her free hand on the younger woman’s back again as she handed it to her.

Holtzmann took a few moments to swirl the water around in her mouth, then spat out and wiped her lips; she took in another deep breath, Erin somewhat glad that a bit of colour was returning to her pale face, even though that feeling didn’t last long, destroyed pretty quickly when Holtzmann finally spoke up again.

“You saw that, too, didn’t you”, she said, her voice trembling a bit; Erin nodded, and the couple exchanged an uneasy look, Erin being the one who said out loud what they both were thinking.

“No wonder the mayor could promise they’d leave you alone”, she said, voice trembling, “they… made another one. This isn’t over.”

Holtzmann just nodded, swallowing heavily – the military might not be after her anymore, she knew, or after her friends, but just like Erin, she was sure that this wasn’t over, suddenly just sure that sooner or later, they all would be faced with this project and the new weapon they had created yet again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! It is done. As you can tell from the ending (hehe sorry), there'll be a third part somewhere down the road - but another story will be posted first, I hope I'll see you there :D


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